If At First
by CoastalFirebird
Summary: Harry died before his time, and his death is not happy. He did not achieve all that he was supposed to and he will be give one more chance to do it right. More inside.
1. Roll of the Dice

If at First…

Chapter: Roll of the Dice

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: I hate plot bunnies. My Death Challenge would not leave me alone so here is my take on my own challenge. This me_ans thoughts or dreams, _means parselmouth, **and this****means the words of the Grim Reaper**.

A/N2: I would like to say thanks to my beta Rasho for their work!

A raven haired young man sat there in a waiting room. Who he was? Where he was? How did he get here? These were the thoughts floating in his head. It was reminiscent of a doctor's office. What was a doctor? The walls were covered in a wall paper depicting black roses in front of what looked like two crossed thigh bones, much akin to a pirate's flag minus the skull. Slowly he started to remember small pieces of information. He recognized a few of the sounds floating around the room.

The music that was playing while classical was so sad that the young man wanted to cry. Aside from the music there was the steady sound of someone typing on a keyboard. Looking around he saw a blonde haired woman sitting in front of what looked like a computer pecking away at the keyboard. Her dark brown eyes gave him the goosebumps. Further inspection of the room showed him a man with what looked like a bike handle shoved through his chest, a woman with her neck twisted at an odd angle, and finally a child coughing up water.

These people caused the green eyed young man to look down at his own body. He discovered that his cloths were soaked. As he went to wipe the water off his brow he felt a distinct scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. This caused him to remember his name: Harry Potter. With that came the revelation of how he died. He was diving to get Godric Gryffindor's sword when he started running out of breath; just before he blacked out her remembered someone diving in the water and heading down to the sword.

Just then the typing stopped. "Oh my gods not you again," Harry looked up to the woman in front of the computer. "…Harry James Potter I want you up here right now!"

Harry jumped to his feet as the woman's voice reminded him of Madam Pomfrey, and if this woman was anything like the nurse she was not to be messed with. As he approached he could see those dark brown eyes trying to bore holes in his head. This made him somewhat glad the phrase 'if looks could kill' was only figurative.

"Yes ma'am, what is it?" he asked somewhat timidly.

"YOU DIED AGAIN!" The woman let out a haggard sigh. "Go through that door and down the hall to the right, and it will be the third door on your left."

"Excuse me ma'am, but what will?" He asked a bit stunned at the directions.

"Your Grim Reaper's office that's what, now go!" The woman thin shoved a piece of paper in his hand. "Move it buddy!"

"Yes ma'am."

Harry walked through the door, and found that the hallway was seemed endless. The floor was black marble, and the walls seemed to be a white slate. His footsteps echoed in this hall as if there resounding as if put on a loudspeaker. His soaked cloths made him feel really cold, and the slight breeze in this hall did not help the matter. When he got to the door a name was emblazoned across the grey stone. John Jackson. When he knocked Harry could hear a man who sounded like he had seen better days bid him entry. Opening the door Harry was blinded by a flash of light. Once the light cleared he could see a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair sitting behind a desk twiddling his thumbs. He was dressed in a grey sport coat, white shirt, and a pair of black slacks.

"Ah Mr. Potter sit down." The man gestured to a chair in front of the desk. While his voice was not as sickeningly sweet as Umbridge's voice it still gave him the creeps.

Once he sat down Harry extended his hand, but the man did not take it. They sat in silence for a few minutes before the leaned forward and heaved out a sigh. "Is something wrong sir?"

"No Harry nothing is wrong. Unless you count that this is the eighth time that you have died." Harry was about to say something, but was stopped by the man raising his hand. "No young man you would not remember the other seven because we striped the memory of dying from you. As it stands you are on your last Revival Contingency. Now this means if you die again that is it, and before we get into that just out of morbid glee would you like to know how you died?"

Harry could tell that the man was angry about something because he was turning a shade of red he could only attribute to Uncle Vernon. "Not really, but I have a feeling you are going to tell me anyway."

"You're right, I **am**." He reached into one of the drawers and pulled out a folder that could rival the Bible in thickness. He flipped several segments aside until he was left with what Harry could only pray was a short list of deaths. "You're first Unauthorized Visit was in June of 1992, when Ronald Bilius Weasley sacked you in order to win the chess match so HE could fight Voldemort and save the school. He failed."

This information gobsmacked the Gryffindor Golden Boy, his best mate had used him as a sacrificial lamb. He was sure that if he were still alive he would have knocked Ron on his arse. The monotone voice of his Grim Reaper brought him out of his anger induced contemplation.

"Your Second U.V. was on the twenty-ninth of May 1993 when the Basilisk bit you in half." Harry winced at this. He remembered how painful one tooth was he didn't want to think about that death too much. "During the first Qudditch game of the 1993-94 school year your third U.V. occurred as you fell to you death thanks to the Dementors attacking out of sight of the Headmaster. And to shorten this up you were killed by the use of spells by: Dolores Umbridge, Draco Malfoy, and Severus Snape in 1996 and 1997 respectively."

He continued to talk, but Harry stopped listening at the thought of two nitwits and one clear evil genius killing him with a spell. He could understand Snape killing him with a spell; the two of them hated each other, but Umbridge and Malfoy? It was impossible. Malfoy could not get the drop on Harry enough to kill him, and Umbridge was too preoccupied with trying to prove he killed Cedric and was plotting word domination to plan his murder. The sound of something slamming against the desk snapped Harry out of his mental consultation.

"Were you listening to me?" Jackson screamed.

"No." Harry looked at them man with death in his eyes. "How did those three kill me?"

"I swear offer a man a get out of jail free card and they say 'no thank you'. Fine let me look it up." He once again opened back to the section of the folder he was at a few moments ago. "Let's see, Draco used a shoving charm to knock you out of a window on the seventh floor. Severus' tripping charm caused you to break your neck. Umbridge in a fit of rage cast the cutting curse and severed your head from your body we had to send you back five days to avoid that scenario. Which brings me back to my ignored statement; do you wish to hear that now?" The smile on the man's face scared him.

"Yes Mr. Jackson, I would love to hear it."

"Call me John. We have seen each other a total of EIGHT times now, it feels like we are friends." He once again slammed the folder shut. "Now Harry, since this is your eighth and final revival I am allowed to offer you a final time travel revival. If you decline I am to send you back allow Dumbledore to give his ungodly speech, and allow your soulmate to die her final death at the hand of Draco Malfoy some twenty years from now."

"Why would he want to kill Ginny?" Harry nearly leapt out of his seat.

"Settle down lover boy, he's not going to kill the red-headed harlot." John was waving his hands in a dismissive manner.

This was a sucker punch to Harry. Ginny was not his soulmate? How could that be? He felt like he could not live without her, and she kissed him so tenderly in the Room of Requirement. If she was not his soulmate then John was misreading his notes. He looked back at the man who once again had the folder open. Unlike last time a majority of the file remained on the unread side and the man only had one page in his hand.

"Here it is. Your soulmate's name is Daphne Greengrass born June 1, 1980 to Kyle and Alice Greengrass. I must say Harry m'boy she is a looker."

"The Slytherin 'Ice Queen' is my soulmate? She does not care about the opposite sex. Not…" Harry was cut off by John raising his hand.

"Harry we do not have time for this. And besides your wrong." John reached once more into his desk.

"Why is that?"

"One she does not 'play for the other team' like the boys in Gryffindor assume, and two this page was written by Fates. Harry we have thirty minutes to make this decision, so focus!" The salt-and-pepper haired immortal handed him a sheet of paper. "Since you don't seem to listen you need to read this."

Harry took the single sheet of paper and began to read.

_Final Revival Contract_

_By signing this contract you (insert name) declare that this will be your final revival, and are willing to undertake certain tasks to insure the continuity of the time stream. You also declare your intent to be placed at a moment within your life that is beneficial to all parties involved, and that you will not do anything to disclose the information retained by the signing of this contract to any mortal not permitted to know. (A full list of these individuals will be given upon signing of this contract.)_

_In addition to the restriction above you are not allowed to do and/or understand the following:_

_1) Disclose future knowledge to any not listed below._

_2) In no way are you to try and cheat the machination of Fate._

_3) Death is an absolute and cannot be undone by mortal hands._

_4) Your Grim Reaper will periodically check__ in with you._

_a) This will vary in intensity according to __a soul's importance to the Great Weave._

_5) Too drastic of a change in the Time Stream will result in catastrophic destruction of reality, and therefore you will not be permitted to attempt this._

The contract continued for a few more paragraphs, but that consisted of mostly legal speak that he was certain he would need Hermione's brain to understand. He looked down at the bottom of the page where spaces were given for names, and another segment listed 'Goals to achieve.' Way below even that was text so small he felt he would need a magnifying glass to read it all. As he looked back at his Reaper, Harry could not find any deception or trickery. To Harry it seemed this truly was like a 'get out jail free card'. Well more like an 'avoid a horrid death card'.

What bothered him was why had all this been done in the first place? Wasn't it supposed to be him or Voldemort? So wasn't the Basilisk killing him meeting that requirement? He decided to bring this up with John. "If Voldemort was to be the only one capable of killing me does that not mean the Basilisk death achieved this?"

"No. That beast was freed by a possessed Ginevra Weasley NOT Tom Riddle himself. Trust me when I say this Harry: Fate is _very_ specific about these kinds of things." John then pulled out a quill and ink well. "Now if you agree to this contract Harry, place your full name in the first space on the sheet and initial and then sign were indicated to do so."

"Before I do that I would like to know what will happen if I don't?" Harry didn't want to play the devil's advocate, but he would rather know what 'might' happen if he didn't do this.

"Well for starters Hermione will be killed by Vincent Crabbe; your 'precious' Ginny will die at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange; Tonks, Remus and Teddy will all die at the hands of a werewolf pack; and finally Europe will fall into a magical dark age that will last six thousand years." He went to put the quill up then stopped. "Not to mention your true soulmate will be forced into an abusive and loveless relationship with Draco Malfoy."

Harry needed no more commentary on the matter. He knew Draco was a right bastard, but he didn't figure he would be that bad. He could only see one way to stop these events from happening.

"Give me that damn quill." Harry started to place his name and sign the contract. He didn't know if Daphne was his soulmate or not, but he would be damned before he knowingly let a person be abused. His experience with the Dursley's was horrific, but they paled in comparison to the Malfoys.

Once he was done signing he felt this stinging pain where his scar was located. This lasted for what felt like hours. When it ended he looked at the 'middle aged' reaper. The man was smiling, and holding out a mirror which Harry immediately took. What he saw frightened him a little. His scar was half way gone. Part of it looked like what a sixteen year old scar should look like, but the lower portion still looked relatively new. He looked up at John with a raised eyebrow.

"In due time Harry. Now follow me please." John picked up the piece of paper Harry had just signed and walked out the door.

As they left the office Harry noticed the hallway seemed shorter somehow. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to what you mortals would call the 'Board Room', then to meet two people, and finally to the Return Chamber. Now keep up." John said as he arrived at a solid gold door at the end of the hallway. He touched the handle of the door and Harry was blinded by light.

Once the light cleared Harry's hopes of being back in the land of the living were dashed as he was still behind John this time in a much bigger hall way. He could hear more people talking and looking around confirmed they were not alone. As they proceeded down the hallway it dawned on him who all of these 'people' were. They were the old gods and goddesses of every ancient faith around the world. Sure some people still worshiped them, but it seemed some were slipping on what appeared to be angel costumes and disappearing. Some of the people that stood out to him were Hercules, Odin, Thor, Zeus, and Hera. This caused him to wonder if every religion was right or maybe he was just hallucinating.

They came to another set of gold doors, and unlike last time when they were opened there was no flash of light. This room looked like a board room in a muggle office building with a long oak table, a series of chairs, and a stack of files lay in front of each of the chairs. At the far end of the room sitting at the table were three women. One woman was wearing a modern muggle business outfit. Another was dressed in ancient Egyptian attire with what appeared to be a laptop in front of her. The last woman was wearing a zoot suit, the jacket draped across the back of the chair, was cleaning what appeared to be a broad sword.

John bowed to the women at the other end of table. "Ladies of Magic and Love I bring the applicant Harry James Potter."

The woman in the business suit huffed. "About damn time," John winced. "…take a seat Mr. Potter. Now first let me introduce myself I am Hecate."

The woman in Egyptian clothing stood next. "I am Aset Mr. Potter, but you may know me as Isis."

Finally the woman with the sword stood, and to say the woman was beautiful was an understatement. "You may call me Freyja runt." The smile on the woman's face was captivating.

John began discussing with them what they had talked about, and Harry's ultimate decision regarding the offer the council had provided. The woman in the business suit said they were still waiting on approval by the Creator, and once that arrived they would proceed with the discussion on what he needs to do. The four of them talked about his most recent death, and the woman in the pinstriped suit seemed rather livid about one Ron Weasley.

"I am telling you all right now the next time that idiot of a red-head cause even one scratch on our charge I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Aset just sighed. "Calm down Freyja he is just a boy."

"A boy that has killed Harry TWICE, and that is not to mention how many times he has caused his would be girlfriend heartache!" the Norse goddess of love and battle seemed to be close to foaming at the mouth.

"That may be true, but he is still need alive so long as he does not try and cause the death of our fated charge." Hecate turned and looked at a door on her right side. Just then a young man came in carrying a small folder which he handed to Hecate. She sat there and read it for a few moments before handing it to the blonde woman with homicidal ideas of Ron. Once the folder had been pasted around Hecate cleared her throat. "It seems Harry that we have been given clearance to send you back to one specific moment in your time at Hogwarts. Now when would you like that to be?"

Harry thought that going back to his first year was out of the question due to the fact he would have to deal with the issue with Dobby over the following summer. Second year was again out. More because of that ponce Lockhart. Third year seemed promising, but at that time Hermione would be a bit afraid of both Sirius and Moony. Fourth year was a definite HELL NO, and the same with fifth. Sixth held promise if a little annoyance.

He ran his hands threw his hair. This was not an easy decision to make. If his soulmate was Daphne, then he would have to go back to a time where he could start up a friendship, but not so early that his mental maturity would freak people out. Then there was also Dumbledore. The old man would be like a hawk over Harry if he so much as thought he was going to the 'Dark side' to use a muggle phrase. Finally Harry decided to ask a question.

"What time can I not go back to?" he said a bit nervously.

"Well it should go without saying that you cannot go back to the night your parents were killed." Harry shook his head. "Next it cannot be during your quest for the Horcruxes as that would eliminate your soulmates chances of getting with you. Lastly neither you first or second year as I would personally strangle Lockhart if he so much as touched you." Freyja said as calmly as possible.

Harry bit back a laugh. "Okay then my third year." He winced as he said that. "Is there any chance I can choose what point I go back to?"

"No, we will determine when would be the best time for you to go to. Know this Harry: unlike Dumbledore we will tell you why." Aset's voice was stern and unyielding. "Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am." At that moment the table shimmered. "What is going on?"

No one else in the room said anything as the table changed into large dais. On the dais was what appeared to be a frozen river, and this caused Harry to shiver remember how he died. The image zoomed in, and he saw Ron emerge from the river not with the sword but his body. Ron then seemed to revive him, and with a wave of the goddesses' hands the image changed to an aerial view of the Hogwarts Express. It then zoomed in to a compartment. He could see himself, Hermione, Ron, and Moony sitting in the compartment. In Ron's hands sat the man who betrayed his parents, and damned Sirius to twelve years in Hell on Earth.

Harry went to touch the image and his hand was summarily swatted by John. He looked over at them and he just shook his head. Two goddesses looked annoyed, and the Nordic goddess looked happy. Looking back at the scene he could see Hermione and himself glowing while Ron seemed to be very animated. Looking back to the goddesses he saw Aset muttering in a low tone causing the people within the compartment to glow. Harry saw Ron lean over and then just as it all started, the 'world' stopped moving. Looking over at John, Harry raised an eyebrow. The Grim Reaper just told him to wait, and he would explain latter.

"As far as his challenges go we will keep them 'simple', but know this mister Potter: this offer will not be extended again." The Norse goddess of battle was giving him a death glare.

"Yes ma'am. I understand."

With that the goddesses signed the document, and ushered him out of the room. As they walked to their next destination John, explained to Harry that what he saw was how the gods affected the mortal world, and they only did that _if it was absolutely necessary._ He also explained that he was given only three things to do: one was to save Sirius, but he said that part was being set up by the goddesses themselves; two emancipate himself from the Dursleys as soon as possible, preferably before his sixth year at Hogwarts; and three get know Daphne as soon as possible, and finally save as many students as possible. "The only one you are not allowed to save," Harry's heart stopped. "…is Cedric Diggory."

"What why bring that up?"

"Because we know you Harry and you would try and save him unless we told why he has to die. If he lives he and Cho get married. The man Cho _should marry_ without her will go over the deep end. Thousands will die Harry. So let him enter the tournament."

Harry just nodded. The thought of more people dying because of one young man's survival was disheartening. As they walked down the hall the raven haired young man tried to rationalize what was going on, but he really had nothing to compare this to. The magical world was full of wonders and spectacular things, but nothing like what graced this place. Halls that appeared to go on forever, water fountains that dispensed wine, statues of legendary people made of pure crystal, and music that could only be sung by the muses themselves. Three of the statues stood out to him: Robin Hood, Merlin, and King Arthur. Looking back John the man just waved his hand in a 'follow me manner", and he led Harry down another short hall way.

They arrived at a single grey door with the letters 'MP' emblazoned above the door. Harry could hear a commotion going on behind the door. A mix of screaming and the grinding of machines a combination that brought to mind scenes of torture and death. Shaking his head, he followed John into the room. In the middle of the room was what appeared to be a circular telephone box, and instead of containing a telephone it contained a chair. The room also contained what appeared to be a potions laboratory, and what appeared to be a jewelry section. Harry found it odd that they would be selling jewelry in the afterlife, but as they say 'too each his own'.

The people his Grim Reaper was talking to seemed as out of place as the jewelry. There was a young lady with long violet hair and blue eyes. She was a little taller than Harry, but carried a more athletic build. The other male in the room looked more bookish. His brown eyes were shield by thick framed glasses, and his blonde hair was more trimmed than Uncle Vernon's lawn. The young man wore a lab coat, while the woman was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

Once John was finished talking to them the man went to the jewelry and the woman went to some kind of control panel. Harry watched as the 'telephone box' lit up.

"Well things should be ready in a moment Harry." John had a smile on his face.

"Okay can you explain what the goddesses were doing, and then what these guys are doing?" Harry said with a little fear in his voice.

"Well the goddesses were affecting the mortal world, and changing a few things." John was cut off.

The young woman said in an English accent. "A bit ballsy of you to reach for the world controls I must say."

Harry's mouth fell open. He then asked "What would have happened to me?"

"One of two things: you become a god, or you fall into the world thus creating a paradox and destroy said world." John said this with mirth in his voice, but Harry did not find option two funny.

"Okay Mr. Potter step in to memory tube." The woman gestured towards the cylinder. Once Harry was inside he was instructed to sit down. "Okay Mr. Potter in answer to your second question. This device will 'install' in your mind the changes the goddesses have made to your past. This is going to feel a bit weird."

With the push of one button Harry's world started spinning before his eyes. He could see the conversation taking place in the train, and he could feel the words he wanted to say to Ron on the tip of his tongue. His memories of his previous time through third year were still intact however, and seemed to be fighting with the new memories. The sounds of buttons being pressed somehow end this war of memories, and yet the older memories remained. When the world stopped spinning Harry felt like he wanted to throw up. Someone shoving a glass in his face saying 'drink this.' Upon doing so the world stopped spinning and his stomach settled down. Looking up he saw the woman leaving the chamber and John motioning him to come over to the jewelry counter.

The young man in the lab coat was fussing over a small pin. "I am telling you John this should stop any spell cast by the old man. He IS NOT Merlin okay."

"I am more concerned about him breaking the pin, or in some way removing it." The Grim Reaper huffed.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"I swear like a child walking into conversation." John shook his head. "Dan here is fixing a pendant for you to wear."

He was cut off by Dan. "It will keep Dumbledore or anyone else for that matter from erasing your memory." He lifted a small pin that consisted of a full moon, a throne, and a sword. "Put this on. Okay Harry I am going to cast Obliviate at you…"

"WHAT?"

"Don't worry about it, I am only going to use power equivalent to Dumbledore." Dan said smiling.

"Way to make me feel better." Harry huffed.

"If the spell works we put you back in the memory chamber, and restore you memory; Obliviate!"

Harry saw the blue green light heading straight for him. When it hit him Harry felt something crawl across his mind. He stood there blinking at the two men for a second before asking. "Well what were you hoping to erase?"

"Everything," Harry's jaw hit the floor. "…and I am glad I failed."

"So am I." Harry looked over at John. "So what's next?"

"I think Kelly has some other things to tell you before we go." John's grey eyes seemed relieved that the charm worked.

"I just wanted to inform you that your Parseltongue is no longer tied to Snake Face." The violet haired woman said while brushing aside a strand of hair.

"You mean the only reason I could…"

"Yes, I know you hate it, but I am giving it to you to spite the death cheating bastard!" The venom in her voice caused Harry's blood to run cold.

"You're only mad because he kept you from your promotion." Dan said with a smile on his face.

"True, now out!" She pointed to the door.

Once again Harry was out in the endless corridor. John was explaining how he would be returning to the world of the living. It sounded like the proverbial light at the end of a long tunnel. However John said there would be challenges along the way. He would not elaborate on them, but told him that if he was strong willed he would pass them. Finally they arrived at a door. Harry looked at John, but the Grim Reaper just motioned to the door, and said "Don't look back."

Reaching for the door Harry was engulfed in light. When the light died down he found himself standing in a long hallway with mist obscuring his vision. As he walked he could hear people talking. Some were telling him to continue while others were telling him to stop and come back. It took him a while, but he could finally pin the voices down. One of the voices was clearly Ginny, and the other voice he could tell for sure was Hermione. A third voice sounded barely above a whisper, but he could hear it pleading for him to press onward. The Hermione voice prodded him like always, but instead of homework she told him to not look back, and that if he did life would be easier. Ginny seemed to be begging him to return to her, and that together they would defeat Voldemort and live happily ever after. Harry laughed at this.

He had walked about fifty meters when he ran into the old man himself. Dumbledore looked no different than the day they laid him in the ground at Hogwarts. The old man tried to get him to turn around, and go back to fight for his 'greater good', but Harry could also hear the pleading of the unknown individual getting louder and louder. The voice was now clearly female, but Dumbledore kept telling him to ignore the voice. All Harry could do was listen to the one voice he knew would never lie to him: Hermione. Suddenly, Dumbledore grabbed his arm.

"Harry don't do this, the world needs you." He looked over at the old man. "That's it Harry lets go back, and discuss this."

Harry pulled his arm away from the old man. "No professor I don't think so." He continued to walk. "I have listened to you at the detriment of so many lives. Daphne, if that is who my soulmate is, deserves better than Draco, and she definitely deserves someone better than me."

"But Harry, think of all the lives you will save by giving your life?" Dumbledore pleaded as he stood in front of Harry. "Think of Ginny, and the others who will be forever changed by this."

This caused him to stop. At that moment he heard a thousand voices go off as one. None he could identify, but there was this ear splitting scream that brought him to his knees. Harry could feel Dumbledore trying to drag him back, but he struggled out of his grip. He started to crawl across the floor his hands and knees burning as they touched the mist covered floor. He could only guess that he had crawled about another thirty meters before stopping, and he would be damned if he let the old man cause him to turn around. He crawled for what felt like fifty meters before he could get back on his feet.

He was uncertain of which way he was facing, but figured if he turned around that would be it: Voldemort would win, Hermione would die, his soulmate lost, and the world would be doomed. So he marched on. Once the screaming stopped he could hear the Headmaster again, but this time the mysterious voice was clearer. It sounded scratchy like she had been screaming. It felt like he had been walking forever, but as he walked the mist started to part and the woman's voice grew louder and louder. The old codger kept telling him to ignore the other voices and to listen to him, and that he was looking out for the Greater Good of the people. Harry just laughed. His laughter stopped however when he could finally see the door.

He could see Draco Malfoy as well. He was much older, but the blonde hair and cold grey eyes gave him away. The woman on the ground in front of him looked battered and bloody. Her long black hair was a tangled mess; the robes she wore were disheveled and tattered. Harry's mind flashed back to a younger image of the witch, and even though her face carried no emotion then it looked a hell of a lot nicer than this. As he rushed the blonde he could hear the voice of an old man screaming for him to stop, and the voice of an old friend constantly reminding him not to look back. He smiled at the sound of Hermione's voice. 'Always the teacher' he thought. Once he was within an arms length of Draco he grabbed the man and threw him to the ground.

Kneeling in front of a woman he thought was Daphne he spoke softly. "Are you alright?"

"No! The man I love is dead, and there is no way of bringing him back." The woman sobbed harder.

"Don't worry Daphne I won't let this happen to you." She looked up at him with blood shot bluish-green eyes. He helped her stand up, and then moved towards the door.

"They said you were dead… How did you?" She said this as she stepped in front of him.

"A long story, but that can wait. Right now I need to keep moving." He pointed to the door that was less than a meter in front of them. When she acknowledged the unspoken question and answer Harry reached for the door.

Once more he was surrounded by a blinding light. He felt himself falling at an incredible velocity, and once again heard the sounds of the train he so looked forward to for the past six years of his life. Beyond that he could hear conversations; and even though he could not make them out, the fact that they existed made him smile. When the momentum stopped he once again heard his best friend's voice speak his name.

"Harry, are you all right?"


	2. Rails, Rats, and Memos

Chapter Two: Rails, Rats, and Memos

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: To state: Keep the reviews coming! I have not forgotten the contract. I do enjoy the reviews keep them coming, and if anyone knows where I can get some butter beer that would be good too. This me_ans thought, dreams, or the words of a goddess to someone's mind; _means parselmouth; **and this means the words of the Grim Reaper**. Cheers!

As he regained his senses from his senses from his rebirth, his attention was drawn towards his best friend . Hermione Granger, the girl who had supported him during the whole _Heir of Slytherin_ thing fiasco, stood her ground on Sirius' gift, and was the only friend during the first part of Tournament in his previous life. The red-head who sat across from them was far less a friend than Harry had originally thought, but he had his comedic value. Ronald Weasley could be called many things: childish, foolhardy , piggish, and selfish. What the Boy-who-lived could not call him was a 'best mate'; that distinction fell clearly to Hermione now.

"Harry, are you all right?" the sound of Hermione's voice was comforting, and gave reassurance that he was really back.

"Yes, I just felt a little light headed is all." Harry looked over at Ron, and saw him holding out Scabbers. Taking the rodent man from the red head Harry cast a silent stunning charm.

" **H arry, what are you doing to Scabbers?!**" Ron screamed. This had the desired effect on the ir sleeping companion.

"Be quiet!" Professor Lupin growled. He looked around the room, and the moment his eyes fell on the rat they seemed to widen. Reacting faster than Ron could think the Marauder snatched his old friend out of Harry's hand. "Where did you get this rat?"

"It's not his rat it's my **rat**! Now give it here." Ron held out his hand.

"Young man, you've been carrying around an animagus." Harry did his best to appear confused, and looked back and forth between his 'friend' and the professor.

He watched as Professor Lupin pulled out a handkerchief and turned it into a small metal box with small air holes. The man explained that it could be a mistake, but he would not be taking any chances. Ron demanded that 'Scabbers' be given back to him. When Lupin said he could accompany him to Professor Dumbledore's office once they arrived at the school Ron looked to his friends. When neither of the other two teens came to his defense Ronald stormed out of the compartment, and by the sound of things he ran right into one Draco Malfoy.

Just like the last time through this time Draco tried to start some kind of confrontation, but unlike last time the new professor was awake and was very upfront about Draco's foolish behavior. The three occupants carried on their conversation, until Wormtail woke up and started making noises. The professor stunned him once more, before going back to sleep. To an extent Harry felt bad that he could not tell the old Marauder what he knew, and then he remembered that John was supposed to give him a list of people he could inform as to what had happened. He just prayed that Remus and Sirius were on that list.

The train continued as usual with its usual occurr ences: the elderly witch with the cart came by around noon; friends found them to chat; Ron tried to be an annoying prat. The last of these things ended in more arguments most of which revolved around Harry's fame and Hermione's nitpicking of his study habits. About twenty minutes into his tirade Harry had enough.

"Look Ron if you cannot accept that your damn rat is an animagus then that's on you, but if you think that I am doing this because I'm the 'famous Harry Potter' you're barking mad. In addition to this if you think Hermione is like your mum you're an idiot." Harry pushed him towards the door. "Now get out of here you jealous pretentious little prat!" With one final shove Ron 'entered' the hallway.

"Watch it Weasley!"

The cold voice came from Harry's right. Looking at the teen females he recognized them as Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass. Ron was about to say something, but was cut off by spunky little voice telling the other two girls to move along. She had to be Daphne's sister. Their hair was the only thing separating their appearance aside from the obvious age difference. "Give us a minute Astoria we have a weasel blocking our path."

"Why you…"

"Ron you were the one to run into her, and besides you are blocking the way." With that Harry shut the door.

"Harry what's gotten into you?" Hermione asked the concern clear in her voice.

He looked over at Remus to make sure the man was a sleep. "Hermione I am going to tell you something, and maybe I shouldn't, but I think it will be safe to…"

"Harry if Dumbledore told you not tell people something then you shouldn't." Hermione cut him off.

"It wasn't Dumbledore Hermione. Please just listen."

When she nodded Harry launched into his tale. He told her everything from his last death to the things they had done throughout school. She of course had many questions once he was done. Not the least of which was how she did in her OWLs. Harry wanted to laugh at that question, but thought better of it. When he told her the scores she was both proud and a bit miffed.

"You are telling me that you got top marks in Defense and I didn't?" She quipped.

"What do you expect? I had fought Voldemort twice at that point, and was teaching other students what I knew. So yeah I beat you." Harry held up his hands to deflect a crumpled up piece of parchment. "Well there is something I haven't told you Hermione."

"Oh and what is that? You are the fated lover of," Harry decided to end the sentence himself.

"…Daphne Greengrass yes." He said flatly.

"Who told you this?"

"My Grim Reaper and I don't think they can lie about that stuff. What would be the point I was dead."

"True. But the _Ice Queen_ of Slytherin is your soulmate?" The bushy haired brunette quizzed.

"I know. Socked the hell out of me too. At that moment in time I thought I loved Ginny, but…"

Suddenly, the train stopped moving. While Hermione wondered what was going on Harry stood up and faced the door. This time the Dementor would have a surprise waiting for it. He could feel the temperature drop, and like last time ice started to develop on the glass. Harry could feel the dread and fear creeping up inside of him, and knew one of the foul beasts was nearby. As the door slid open Harry did not let it get one centimeter into the compartment before he cast the Patronus charm. This of course woke up Remus, and while Hermione asked about the spell Harry could hear a scream coming from down the car. He stepped into the hallway and could see two more Dementors outside one of the compartments. He once more cast the Patronus charm and followed it down the train.

As he made his way to the compartment Harry could hear the sobs of several females. One of which sounded like a first year. Once he arrived at the compartment he noticed it was Daphne and her sister that the Dementors were attacking. Daphne though seemed to have been their main target as she was lying on the ground unconscious. He kept reassuring Astoria that her sister was okay, and that she should wake up in a few minutes. When Remus showed up Harry had to bite his lip to stop himself from asking for chocolate for the compartment.

After taking the chocolate that was offered Harry broke off a piece and handed it to Astoria who was still in shambles.

"Take this; it will make you feel better." He started eating the chocolate in his hand when a commotion behind him caused him to draw his wand. What he saw was Ron face first on the ground with Remus Lupin standing there wand drawn and glaring at him. "What is wrong Professor?"

"Your friend here tried to pick my pocket." He looked back to Ronald. "Young man I said you could follow me voluntarily, but now I think it will be mandatory. Ah you're awake."

Harry looked back to Daphne, and saw her hand on her head. "What happened?"

"You passed out because of the Dementors. How are you feeling?" He asked helping her to her feet.

"Fine if you stop holding my hand." Harry quickly let go. "Better. Now who are you?" She was pointing at the new Defense teacher.

"My name is Remus Lupin. I am your new Defense against the Dark Arts Professor. Here take this chocolate it will make you feel better." He broke off a piece of the candy bar and gave it to Daphne. "Now if you will excuse me I have to go speak with the conductor about a few things. Eat." And with that the last free Marauder walked away.

"Hey what's he doing here?" the brutish voice of Crabbe rang through the corridor.

"Helping my sister you prat!" screamed a teary eyed Astoria Greengrass.

"He doesn't need to be here." snapped Malfoy.

"Oh, and you do sir wets himself?" Harry quipped as he looked at Malfoy's stained appearance.

"I did nothing of the…" as he felt the front of his trousers Draco's face went paler (if that was possible), and he quickly ran to the loo. "You will pay for this Potter!" He screamed over his shoulder.

"Unlikely." He looked back to Daphne. "Out of curiosity how do you put up with him?"

"I just ignore most of what he says."

At that Pansy face turned ugly. She started screaming at Daphne who in turn yelled back. Apparently the fandom of Draco Malfoy would be short two of its longest running members. After Crabbe and Goyle made a few stupid comments, Harry said they could join him and Hermione. When Ron vehemently refused to stay with them Harry simply reminded him that he was no longer staying in their compartment. He then helped Astoria (or as she asked him to call her Tori ) with her trunk. As they walked back to the compartment the young first year was asking all kinds of questions, mostly about Harry, which seemed to annoy her sister.

Once they got back in the compartment Hermione started reading her Arithmancy book, and so too did the other two third year girls. While Tori continued to ask Harry question. To Harry they seemed innocent enough, but he could tell that Daphne was either bothered or put off by them; maybe both. After a while the conversation ended, and not to long after that Harry had to step out to let the girls change while he went into the loo to do the same. Once he was done Harry walked back to the compartment, and looking away from the windows knocked on the door. After being given the all clear he opened the door. It seemed the girls were now talking to each other about classes. Hermione was still going to be taking every available elective. This time it was Tracey who asked how she was going to do this, and was assuaged by Hermione's answer of "I'll manage."

As Harry was putting his cloths in his trunk Daphne asked "So you're taking Ancient Runes Harry?"

"What?" Looking at the raven haired teen with a raised eyebrow seemed to elicit giggles from her sister.

"Honestly Harry don't you remember?" Shaking his head only caused his friend to let out a sigh. "I convinced you to take it over Divination don't you remember?"

"_Say yes Harry."_ Harry nearly jumped at hearing John's voice.

"Yes, but what did Ron decide to take?" Harry focused as hard as he could on the new memories he gained.

"He was trying to get you to choose Divinations saying: 'It is an easy course mate'. I just simply reminded you that if you wanted to be an Auror Ancient Runes would make your job easier."

He could barley recall the conversation he had with his 'two' best friends. Harry could remember both events, and this made his memory a chaotic mess. Sure listening to Ron 'paid off' with an easy course, but it also ended in nightmarish scenario at the end of second term. 'Listening' to Hermione changed things, and with that came uncertainty. It still might happen if Fudge did not move to drop the charges. Although knowing who had Fudge in his pocket Harry doubted that this would end well.

Once they arrived at Hogsmeade station Harry and the others bid farewell to Tori, and headed towards the carriages. He resisted the urge to walk and pet the thestrals. He was shocked when Tracey did exactly that, and he didn't really bother asking figuring it was a touchy subject. She looked over at him, and smiled. Deciding to take a chance Harry walked up and petted the nearly skeletal equine. When Hermione asked him what he was doing Harry explained about the misunderstood breed that pulled the students' transportation to the castle. When asked how he knew this he told them it was in the Care of Magical Creatures book, and he told them how to open it. After they moaned about it being dangerous he simply told them it will pay off in the end, and said they might want to read about hippogriffs. The others just looked at him as if he were speaking Mermish.

After arriving at the castle the group split up heading for their respective tables. Ron, Lupin, and Dumbledore did not show up until five minutes after the last senior classman sat down. Things progressed normally till the sorting. Harry heard Professor McGonagall call out Tori's name, and he was expecting like last time for the hat to cry out Slytherin. For the first time in the four years he witnessed the sorting he heard the old hat laugh before it shouted _GRYFFINDOR!_ Harry along with Hermione stood as they applauded their newest housemate, and looking over at Daphne caused Harry to worry. The Ice Queen who was usually unreadable had a look of shock on her face.

"Looks like the Ice Queen is stunned eh Harry?" he heard Neville ask.

"Looks that way," Harry looked back to Daphne. "…but you know she isn't that bad of a person."

"No one cares traitor." Ron spat from down the table.

"Who asked you Ronald?" Harry was doing his best to impersonate Hermione, but the glare the bushy haired girl was giving him meant he was failing miserably.

Nev leaned in and whispered "What is going on between you and Ron?"

"He thinks I cost him his rat, and that he has some kind of God given right to chose who I associate with, and who my friends are." He looked directly at Hermione. "As far as I am concerned Hermione you are my best mate, and Ronald can stick it." Ron turned to him and started talking with his food still in his mouth. Harry was feeling his appetite deplete, and he was sure he wasn't the only one. "I have no desire to see your choice of food, you human waste bin."

The sharp intake of air from those around him signaled shock, but the red on Ron's face meant volcano Ronald Bilius Weasley was about to blow.

"You think you're better than me POTTER! Well here some news for you: You Not! I am better than you, and you know it."

Ron continued to rant about his greatness, and this drew the attention of the entire Great Hall. With a scolding from McGonagall, and the deduction of points (fifty) for his outburst Ron quieted down, but he continued to glare at Harry. Harry looked down the table and saw the twins snickering, and came up with an idea. Channeling his inner Marauder he decided to prod Ron once more.

"Ronald I know some of the ladies find me attractive, but even they do not stare that long." He kept his voice low so as to stay out of the cross hairs of the head lioness.

"What are you talking about Potter?" He snapped back.

"Wow, are we on a last name basis now Weasel?" Harry started an internal countdown and he didn't even make it from five to four when Ron blew up again.

"How are you! You are just an attention seeking prick!" Even though he covered his mouth it was too late.

"Mr. Weasley, another fifty points for your continued misbehavior, and a week's worth of detention. The school year has barely started and you are costing the house points." Professor McGonagall was giving the youngest Weasley male the best death stare she could muster. She had moved from the professor's table to 'discuss' with Ron his misbehavior. "Now follow me Mr. Weasley."

"It was not my fault Harry started it!" He pointed an accusing finger at Harry.

"Enough! Now follow me Mr. Weasley."

Harry watched as the professor and a grumbling redhead left the Great Hall. The rest of the dinner went on without a hitch. Well mostly. Hermione was giving Harry a thorough tongue lashing of his own for what he did to Ron. Tori came down and sat in Ron's old spot for a few minutes wanting to know more about what happened, and to Harry she seemed like social butterfly. Not that it was a bad thing, but given the looks on two Slytherin girls' faces it mean something. What depended on who Harry guessed: Tracey had a mischievous grin on her face, and Daphne while stoic seemed worried. When Tori was done asking her questions she went back to the front of the table, and was soon replaced by Gred or Forge; it was up in the air as to which one. When they got the full details as to what happened on the train, he seemed a bit miffed. Harry was told not to worry about _'Ikle Ronnie'_ as he rejoined his brother in plotting. Harry almost felt sorry for Ronald; but then he thought of his last death and quickly banished thoughts .

Watching the twins plot and glancing over to Moony brought an idea to mind, one that caused him to smile. He would have to write to Flourish and Blotts about getting some books, and then convincing his best mate to 'partake in the fun'; and that would be a challenge in of itself. He looked one last time at Moony and figured the one and only person who could help him was at the moment on the run. He knew of only one safe way to get him the message, but was worried about Mr. Nosey getting involved. He decided to chance it, and send the message as soon as he got 'the list'.

As the dinner was called to an end a message was delivered to Harry by Percy telling him to meet with the headmaster before heading to the dorms. On his way to the old man's office he thought about the myriad of things this could be about. One was the more recent arguments he started with Ron, two was the Patronus charm that he used on the train, three the capture of Peter Pettigrew, and four would be all of the above. As he made his way he decided to use his inner Slytherin to deal with Professor Dumbledore. Arriving at the statue he gave the password: Starburst. Harry shook his head at the ingenious method for keeping people from knowing them unless they were muggle-born, and/or spent a lot of time in the muggle world. Walking into the office after 'knocking' Harry noticed Madam Bones was standing there with Kingsley Shacklebolt and one neon haired Auror.

After the introduction Dumbledore asked him the obvious question.

"Harry, how did you know about Peter?"

"I have a Sneakoscope that was going off only near the rat. Was he really an animagus?" Harry was trying to pull of the whole innocent look, but was afraid he was failing.

"Who got you the Sneakoscope?" Madam Bones asked.

"One of the Weasleys, I forget who, but like I said Madam Bones I thought something was wrong." He looked over to the old man. "Who was it?"

"Peter Pettigrew and I swear professor, if you don't turn him in I will." Moony said as he entered the room.

"It is beyond him now thanks to young Mr. Potter here." Tonks said.

"You're just saying that because it frees your cousin." The dark skinned Auror said.

Harry answered a few more question from the head of the Auror before Dumbledore asked the one question Harry was silently praying he would not ask. "Now before you go Harry I have heard you cast the Patronus charm. Is that true?"

"Yes sir. After my last two years I thought it wise to do a little advance studying in the Defense against the Dark Arts." He tried to give the best poker face he could. He could feel a warm pulse on his chest, and looking down he saw the pin's throne portion glowing. Looking back at the professor he saw a befuddled look on Dumbledore's face. "Is something wrong professor?"

"No nothing is wrong Harry, and I swear to you I will do everything I can to get the charges against your godfather dropped."

Harry knew he was being baited, but bit anyway. "I have a godfather sir?"

"Yes Harry, it is Sirius Black."

"Oh." He smiled internally at the headmaster's expression. "Can I go now sir?"

"Yes Harry, you may go." The look on Dumbledore's face was a mixture of shock and confused .

As Harry made his way back to the dorms he decided to stop by the loo. As he was taking care of nature's call he felt the room get colder, and as he washed his hands he looked in the mirror he jumped. There standing behind him was a 'man' draped in a dark cloak, and instead of a face he had a bare skull. He was also carrying a scythe. Spinning around he saw his Grim Reaper, and turned around to look in the mirror again to see the man standing where the cloaked figure once was. He turned around and glared at the man.

"Sorry I couldn't resist." He held up his hands defensively.

"No problem, just don't scare me to death."

"I just showed up to give you the list, and to tell you not to change everything as it will make Dumbles a little too clingy." He pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Harry.

Before he read the list he asked "What was going on with the pin?"

"Lady Aset wanted it to prevent mind reading from Dumbles and Snapie boy. Tom is not on that block to make him annoyed that you have 'cheated death'."

"That will make him hate me more." Harry seethed.

"Easy Harry that is kind of the point, because you are to OWN ALL of the Deathly Hollows. To answer your next question these are ancient artifacts that have passed many hands. Your family has owned one for generations."

"My cloak?" asked Harry.

"Yes, now here is the list of people you can tell." John hand him a piece of parchment.

Harry just nodded, and looked down at the list.

List of People Granted Permission to Know

Sirius Orion Black (Padfoot)

Hermione Jean Granger

Daphne Susan Greengrass

Luna Lovegood (Year four no sooner)

Remus John Lupin (Moony)

Neville Longbottom

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Harry looked up, but John was gone. He just smiled, and went to the third year boy's dorm. Opening the window, he used patronus charm to send a message. He smiled and closed the window. What he read the following morning in a special edition of the _Daily Prophet_ made him smile.

**Sirius Black freed! Dumbledore blows lid off twelve year cover up!**


	3. Persuasion and Grace

Chapter Three: Persuasion and Grace

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: Keep the reviews coming! Sorry about the Auror fiasco it is a verbal tweak of mine that wound up in text form. This means "someone is talking",'thoughts'_ 'or dreams', _means -parselmouth, **and this** **means the words of the Grim Reaper**. All the chapters have been updated, and beta read by HP-DG-HG-SB to whom I owe a big thanks. Cheers!

A/N 2: Worldmaker you are entitled to your opinion, but I would prefer what, is said in private stay that way. I am not exwolf (ID 2888068), and if you do not believe me compare our writing styles to each other. You are entitled to your opinion, but please refrain from posting if you have nothing to say other than malice and discontent. Thank you.

Harry was sitting in the Great Hall for lunch, and was enjoying a little bit of down time. It had been month since the start of term, and just like last time, Draco and his better halves tried to force Buckbeak to bow. Unfortunately for them Harry had informed Hagrid of his lack of 'concentration' during class, and the Prince of fools along with his friends were given a week's worth of detention. The only problem he could see was enduring the classes. While he knew the material and was racking up house points he was exceedingly bored during class. He knew the spells they were being taught, and had no problem casting them, but at this point he was just beating a dead thestral.

The only exception to this was Ancient Runes. The class was difficult, and left him little time to slack off. Where he could do most reports in a couple of hours Ancient Runes at times took twice that much time. The plus side to it was he was 'inching closer' to a conversation with the Ice Queen. At the moment the extent of their 'talks' consisted of short comments back and forth. Most of which consisted of 'nice work' and 'not bad'. It wasn't much, but at least it was something.

Her sister was a laugh riot. She seemed to be a cross between the twins and Sirius Black. And as much as the thought sent shivers up Harry's spine it made him laugh just as much. While she was not a prankster, yet, Tori seemed to want to be one. When she wasn't hanging with her year mates she was with the twins in the common room plotting and scheming. On occasion she would talk to Harry and Hermione about their 'exploits'. Although she did not talk about her sister much she did mention that it was a family matter that caused her reaction to the Dementor. The twins viewed her as a secondary little sister, and they were not the only ones. It seemed everyone in the house liked her saved for one person: Ronald Weasley.

The youngest Weasley boy had alienated himself from the entire house one day because he made Tori run form the common room crying. It may have been a week ago, but just thinking about it made his blood boil.

* * *

><p>(Flashback)<p>

_Harry was sitting in the common room working on his latest History of Magic report when a commotion in the back of the common room made his head shoot up. He saw Tori running for the girls' dorms, and one Weasel grinning like a mad man. He stood up and marched over to the human pig._

_"What did you say to her Weasel?" Harry growled._

_"What did you call ME?" Ron shouted._

_"He told her to go back to her kind." One of Tori's friends said._

_"He also called her a snake and a liar!" Colin's brother said._

_"Well she IS a snake and liar, and it would not surprise me if she was a Death…"_

_Harry didn't let Ronald finish the sentence. "Silencio," he could hear gasps coming from the others in the common room. "Now you listen to me Weaselbee, if you ever insult her like that again you will have more to worry about than your brothers. Ron it seems you have forgotten what we were told when we first arrived at this castle, 'our house will be like our family', and Ron I suggest you remember that phrase."_

_Harry turned around to see Hermione, Ginny, and Tori standing behind him he simply nodded to the three of them. He then told Tori if she had any problems to come to him, and that he would teach her a 'defensive' spell for her to use on Ron if she ever felt threatened by him again. With that he leered back at Ronald and gave him the two fingered salute._

_As he walked away Harry heard someone shout 'look out' before he felt something slam into his back. He and his assailant fell to the ground, and that was when he felt the first punch land on his right shoulder. He had truly felt worse, but this was still annoying. Using what little leverage he had Harry shoved one of his elbows back into what felt like Ron's rib cage. Ron was moved backwards enough to allow Harry room to move. Once he was in a better position he started throwing punches at the red-headed fool. Seamus and Neville pulled Ron off of Harry, but not before Harry landed a left-handed punch on Ronald's nose. The resounding crunch told the tale of what happened before the flow of blood began. Percy came down from the boys' dorms, and asked what had happened. Ron whose voice was restored by Percy tried to paint Tori as the instigator, and Harry as her willing participant, but the others in the room shot down his excuse down before he even finished. Percy told Ron to follow him and the two left the common room._

_Tori ran up to him. "Harry, are you all right?"_

_"Yes Tori I am fine, but if he ever gets in your face again you come and find me or the twins, or at the very least a professor okay?"_

_"Sure, but I thought he was your friend?" Tori asked with bewilderment in her eyes._

_"'Was' is the key word Tori." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let me give you instructions to a spell." Harry went back to where he had been working on his report for Binns, and took out a new piece of parchment. He began to write down the instructions for Levicorpus and then handed them to Tori. "Here is the spell I wanted to teach you Tori. It is very simple just an upward flick of your wand should do it, but I have written down how to say it and what it does. You and the twins will find this... fun."_

_He watched as the young blonde read the note, and a devilish grin grew across her face. She ran to the twins and showed them, both Fred and George grinned excessively._

* * *

><p>Harry was brought out of his reviver by the sounds of the post arriving. He noticed a small owl flying at near break neck speed, and knew instantly who the little creature was. Pigwidgeon darted down to him, and there was no doubt who sent the letter the little owl carried. Taking the letter from him Harry pointed the owl to Fred owning to the fact that Ron wanted nothing to do with Harry replacing 'Scabbers'. Once the owl reached Fred Harry could hear the debate of names for the creature. He could see Ginny mention the name the animal would bear for all eternity, and with a simple 'chirp' it was decided. Harry turned his attention to the letter that his godfather had sent.<p>

_Dear Harry,_

_You still haven't answered my question. How did you know how to do that with your Patronus? Aside from that I have sent a letter giving you permission to go to Hogsmeade. Just show the old biddy, I mean Professor McGonagall the second letter, and you should be good to go. Do you have any friends that would be comfortable meeting with a 'reformed' reprobate? Let me know how many people wish to take the Marauder's oath, recite and tap please._

_Your godfather,_

_Sirius_

Harry started laughing. Seamus looked at him funny. "What so hilarious Harry?"

"My godfather just called Professor McGonagall an 'old biddy'." Harry could not stop the peals of laughter. When he looked at Seamus again his dorm mate looked frightened. Looking behind him Harry could see said professor standing behind him. "Hello Professor McGonagall." Harry took an audible swallow.

"Do you find that definition accurate Mr. Potter?" The look she was giving him both dared him to do it, and carried the phrase 'do it and die'.

"No ma'am, but he also said to give you this." Harry held out his permission form for Hogsmeade.

"I would like to see both letters Mr. Potter." The professor held out her hand.

"Yes ma'am."

As McGonagall read the note Harry could swear she was smiling. "Mr. Potter please tell me you are not thinking about to restarting your father's little group?"

"I am not planning to restart his group." McGonagall shook her head before handing him back him back the first letter. She read the second letter.

"This will do until you get him to sign the actual form Mr. Potter." She glared at him for a bit. "I am telling you right now if you start acting like…"

"You have nothing to worry about professor. I am not Sirius Black, and I swear to you I am much more respectful to women." At the mere mention of Sirius' name Harry could hear everyone at the table inhale sharply.

"I hope so Potter." Harry spun around and saw Daphne and Tracey staring at him. Well Daphne was staring. Tracey was smiling a rather devilish smile. "My sister looks up to you, you know."

He looked over to Tori. She was being very mature for her age by giving her sister the two fingered salute. "You know sis I could tell him…"

"Don't even say another word Tori!" Though there was no ice in her voice Harry could tell she was serious. Looking over to Tori he saw neither fear nor concern. In fact the first year was smiling.

"Why don't you sit with us?" Harry gestured to the two open chairs in front of him and Neville.

"What are you trying to do Potty?" The sneer on Malfoy's face was classic. He reached up to put his arm around Daphne's shoulders. "Daphne and I were just… ugh!" Harry nearly fell over laughing as Daphne's elbow collided with Malfoy's gut.

"Do not touch me Malfoy, I have told you this a thousand times." She looked over at Harry. "And as for you why would I want to sit with you?"

"Better company, and let's face it cleaner company as well. I doubt the ferret there," he gestured to Malfoy. "…has bathed in weeks." Harry immediately bit his tongue. No one knew what had happened during his last time through the upcoming year. Still everyone laughed, albeit if things played out next year the same they would laugh even harder.

"How dare you wait till I tell my…"

"…Your father?" Everyone in hearing range of Draco, including the two Slytherin girls responded. With that the two trolls and ferret left.

After a short conversation Tracey and Daphne decided to join Harry and his friends for lunch. Conversation was kept light but interesting. Daphne mainly stuck to academics, but Tracey seemed dead set on finding out more about Harry. Occasionally Harry would throw a glance down at Fred and George who were laughing maniacally. While this was not bad it did not bode well for whoever was the target of the day. When Harry, Hermione, Daphne, and Tracey stood to go to Ancient Runes Tracey decided to broach the topic of Sirius Black.

"So Harry you're Sirius Black's godson?" She asked this in a somewhat low voice.

"Yes Tracey I am, he and my father where brothers in all but blood."

Daphne's head snapped in his direction. "How can you say that Harry, he betrayed your father?"

Holding up his hand Harry explained. "Actually no he didn't. What the _Daily Prophet_ stated is correct. Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper for my parents, and he was the spy for Voldemort." Everyone else shivered at the name. "Any way, my father had told Dumbledore he was going to use Black, but switched to Pettigrew at the last minute. This idea was Sirius' mainly because he knew he would be the obvious choice, being my father's best mate."

"Okay Potter, but how do you know Black is not dark?" Daphne asked.

"Think about it for a second. His mother, who without a doubt was dark, expels him from the family, he moves in with my dad and his parents who are light, and they live peacefully with one another for years." He waited for the information to sink in. "Then he fights against the Death Eaters and Voldemort…"

"Please Harry stop saying that!" Daphne did not scream this, but there was a definite panic in her voice. One glance at the other two told him they were on edge as well.

"Okay. He fought against You-know-who and his flunkies. So what benefit would he have to betray his friends? His brother would not just arbitrarily accept him back, and they would think it was just a set up." Harry looked at Daphne. "Take yourself for instance."

"Why does it have to be me, can it not be Tracey?" She was now glaring at Harry. Tracey was laughing.

"Okay Tracey since you are in Slytherin some will think you a future dark witch. I am going to take the stance that that is incorrect, but others will not. Does your being in Slytherin mean you are like Draco Malfoy?"

"No it does not, but all this circular talking is getting to me Potter." Tracey said as she opened the door.

"Did Black do it or not Potter?" Daphne asked again.

"Why don't you ask him? I plan to meet him between here and Hogsmeade on our first trip." And with that they all sat at the same table for once. Harry could feel the eyes of the other students gazing in their direction. "Look everyone I know Sirius Black was wrongly convicted, but please stop gawking every time someone mentions him or the human rat."

"Harry I think they are staring because two Slytherins and two Gryffindors are sitting at the same table." Tracey said with a grin.

"Oh." Harry looked back at the class. "Forget what I just said." There were a few laughs, and even Professor Babbling was laughing somewhat.

* * *

><p>Later on that week they were informed that the first Hogsmeade week end would be on the thirty first just like Harry remembered, and unsettlingly that the Dementors would be back at Hogwarts. At the uproar of students Professor Dumbledore informed them that it was not Sirius Black that was a threat to them, but an escaped Wormtail. Harry gritted his teeth, and kicked himself for thinking they were done with the Dementors for at least two years. He looked over to the Slytherin table, and saw Daphne's face pale. Glancing down the table he could tell Tori looked worried as well. It was then that Harry thought of teaching Daphne the Patronus Charm. If anything it would protect her from the vile creatures.<p>

As dinner began Harry saw Tori run over to her sister and started talking to her. Ron looked like he was about to say something, but a look from Alicia Spinnet silenced him. He watched them and Tracey get up and walk outside the Great Hall. He decided to follow them.

"Where are you going Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I just want to check out something Hermione. Don't worry about it."

He ran out the doors of the great hall. He could hear Ron yelling something, but it sounded more like howls of pain rather than insults. Once Harry was in the hallway he looked for the three girls. Seeing them a little was off to the right he decided to walk towards them. When she heard footsteps heading her way Daphne looked up. "What do you want Potter?"

"You don't have to call me that Daphne." She pointed behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Draco and his two thugs. "What do you and your boyfriends want Draco?"

"What are you talking about Potter?" Draco retorted.

"What do you and trolls want?" Harry's voice dropped in tone, and he saw Crabbe and Goyle take a step back. "Why don't you go finish your meal Malfoy? All I want to do is talk to Daphne, her sister, and Tracey about something."

"Whatever you want to say to her you can say…" Once again Draco was cut off by Daphne.

"I am not one of your house-elves Malfoy, and the same goes for you Potter." The chill in her voice exceeded his.

"I have no intention of treating you like some kind of servant Daphne. I was going to offer to teach you the Patronus charm." Harry looked back to Draco whose mouth was hanging open. "Are you trying to catch flies Draco?"

"How dare you Potter!" Draco screamed.

Draco went for his wand, but he was a fraction of a second slower than Harry. Three quick Expelliarmus and one Protego took care of the three individuals. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle looked at their hands then at Harry, and back again. The expressions they wore were mainly of fright. Even though he wanted to smile Harry kept a straight face. He gestured to the wands he sent flying down the hallway.

"Pick up your wands gentlemen and leave." As the three fools left Harry turned to look at three girls who had their mouths hanging open. "Are you all right ladies?"

"How did you do that?" Tori asked.

"Lots and lots of practice, and Daphne I was not kidding I am willing to teach you the Patronus charm." He looked to Tori. "Is something wrong?"

"Behind you," the little blonde pointed in said direction.

Looking over his shoulder Harry could see Professors Snape and McGonagall looking at him, and the headmaster was not far behind them. Draco and the trolls were not far behind. He looked once more to Professor McGonagall she looked both annoyed and proud. Snape on the other hand just looked annoyed. Once the headmaster reached them the questions began. What happened, who started the fight, and what exactly happened? After Daphne and Tori backed up Harry's statements and Harry even offered his wand to be tested. Professor Snape was the one who cast Prior Incantatem revealing the previously stated spell.

"He could have faked it!" Draco screamed.

"That is doubtful Mr. Malfoy. Now if I may see your wand." Professor Snape stated. Snape repeated the process and revealed the bone breaking hex. "It seems for once Mr. Potter you are correct. Mr. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle I will expect to see you for detention tomorrow evening after dinner."

As they walked back towards the Great Hall Daphne asked "Do you mind if me and Tracey join you and Hermione for dinner?"

Harry looked behind him and saw Tori grinning like the Cheshire cat. "I wouldn't mind that at all." Harry held open the door for the two Greengrass sisters.


	4. Dementors and Butterflies

Chapter Four: Dementors and Butterflies

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: Keep the reviews coming! Ron's fate is decided read on to find out! This means "someone talking",'thoughts'_ or dreams, _means –parselmouth, **and this** **means the words of the Grim Reaper**. Rule Line means scene break. All the chapters have been updated, and beta read by HP-DG-HG-SB to whom I owe a big thanks. Cheers!

Harry was walking beside Neville and Hermione on their way to potions with the snakes. The three were talking about what Harry was going to do tonight. He was to start teaching Daphne the Patronus charm. Ron was walking a good four meters behind them, and just glancing over his should told Harry that the red head was beyond mad. Potions was no longer a nightmare for him seeing as Snape had 'chosen' to humiliating Ron instead of Harry. Harry figured that this was Dumbledore's doing, and he would lay a bet with Fate itself that the old man wanted to rekindle their friendship. A lifetime ago Harry would have felt bad for Ron, but he was not going to be Dumbledore's puppet again.

As they entered the Potions lab Harry saw Tracey point at him, and doing the 'come hither' motion beckoned him further into the lab. As he walked towards her, the sandy blond had this mischievous grin on her face.

"Do you always come when someone fingers you Harry?" Tracey's lewd commentary had become common place in the absence of Hermione. The slack jawed look on Daphne was priceless.

"Not necessarily, but on occasion yes." Harry smiled at the shocked look on Daphne's face.

"Getting better Potter, so are you really going to teach Daphne that spell we were talking about?" Harry could see this devilish smile on her face.

Before he could respond the familiar oily voice he so loved responded for him. "What could Potty be teaching her that I couldn't?" Draco had his familiar sneer plastered on his face.

"Draco if you have to go the loo that's your business the rest of us don't need to know." A few people just started laughing.

"Potter I am warning you right now if you do anything I will tell…"

"Your father, and then he will tell the other governors some horror story thus getting me kicked out of school. Did I leave anything out?" While he was saying this Harry was waving his right hand in the air in dramatic fashion. He looked over at Daphne who was doing her damnedest to keep her Ice Queen mask on.

"Why you self-righteous little BASTARD I challenge you…" before he could finish the door slammed shut.

"Mr. Malfoy, do I have to take away points from Slytherin house again because of your actions?" The callous voice of Snape filled the room. "That will be twenty points from Gryffindor for you being out of your seat Mr. Potter."

"Okay thank you professor." Harry looked back at Daphne. "I will see you later then." After a simple nod the raven haired boy took his customary seat.

As Harry sat down he couldn't help but smile at the look on Hermione's face. He knew he was going to get an ear full at dinner, but at the moment that was still a few hours away. The class proceeded as normal with Hermione helping Neville, and Ron glaring at everyone. Harry was certain he was looking at Daphne, but he was more concerned about his Death-cap draught than the pretentious attitude of the youngest Weasley boy. The only problem with the entire situation was that Harry's station was right next to Ron's and when the oblivious fool's potion started to boil over it started to bellow out a noxious cloud that cleared the classroom. Snape managed to clean the air, and allowed them to finish their work, but Ron had to go to the wing of doom because of his boils. Unfortunately for the red head no one wished to accompany him to the Hospital Wing. The only ones not holding back their laughter were the snakes. Harry chanced a glance over to Daphne to see a rare smile across her face.

Daphne had this wicked grin on her face as Weasley limped out of the classroom. She decided to take a fleeting look over in Potter's direction. He was looking right at her, and she was fighting with every fibre of her being not to blush. The soft giggles of her best friend caused her to turn her head.

"He caught you looking at him." Tracey silken voice was holding more than its fair share of mirth.

"No he did not." She glanced over at Crabbe and Goyle. She continued in a whisper. "Besides don't say anything while we are within earshot to twiddle-dumb and twiddle-stupid."

"I have never figured out which one is which though." Tracey said as she looked over at Crabbe. "I'd say that one is stupid."

"No he is dumb. Stupid is Goyle because he knows better but does Draco's bidding anyway. Now come on let's bottle these potions before time is out." Daphne grabbed one of the empty vials, and preceded to poor her potion into it.

The rest of the days classes passed without incident. At the moment he, Hermione, and Neville were on their way to dinner.

His thoughts were on what today was other than it being Friday. It was the first day he would be teaching Daphne the Patronus charm. She had insisted that at least one professor be there, and when he suggested Professor Lupin she balked at the idea saying that it would be two men. At that point he said that she could pick an additional professor if she'd like, and at she suggested Madam Pomfrey. Harry internally flinched at the name. He had a feeling she was choosing the nurse to see if Harry was joking, but a promise is a promise so he told her that would be okay. He had also earlier in the week talked to Professor Lupin to see if he could get a boggart. He would have to convince her to focus on the fear the dementor caused her, and not whatever the dementor was forcing her to relive. A thousand thoughts ran threw his head as to what could have happened in her life to draw not one but two dementors in her direction. He knocked a few ideas out of the running because just thinking about them made his blood boil. He also doubted Draco would do something incredibly stupid, but with that fool anything was possible.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of someone yelling down the corridor. Looking down the hallway Harry could see a blonde girl about his age being harassed by trolls one and two. He started running in their direction, and when he heard the girl's voice he knew instantly who it was. Luna. Harry drew his wand and cast a silent casting two stunning charms at Crabbe and Goyle. Once the two idiots hit the ground he walked up to Luna. "Are you okay?"

"You're Harry Potter." Lune said in typical far off voice.

"Yes I am, I have heard a lot about you Luna, but don't worry I don't believe it." Harry chuckled at her unique way of addressing the obvious. "Are you all right?"

"I am fine Harry. Are you going to be okay I feel death about you?" Harry was dumfounded for a minute then he started looking around. He saw John standing in the right hand corner of the hall.

"Yes I am fine Luna. Hey Neville can you help Luna to the Great Hall?" He waited to for the other boy to acquiesce to the statement. "Hermione there is someone you need to meet. Don't worry Neville you will meet them later… I hope."

"Oh don't worry Harry I don't think he is here to hurt you." Luna said with a smile on her face.

Harry saw that Hermione was about to say something, and decided to cut her off. "Thanks Luna and I will see you both at the Great Hall." Harry watched them leave and waited about five minutes before turning to one of his oldest friends. "Hermione there is someone you need to meet."

"This better be good Harry. That girl is a more just a 'little off'. If you know what I mean."

It was Harry's turn to be cut off. "That she maybe Miss Granger, but no greater confidant will you find." When Hermione turned around Harry thought she had dropped a few shades in skin color. John just grinned, and extended his hand. "Hi my name is John Jackson and I am Harry's Grim Reaper."

Hermione fainted. After catching her, and a quick enervate spell restored the girl to consciousness. "Harry what happened?"

"You fainted," Harry said with an ear to ear grin on his face. After a stern look from the bushy haired brunette he continued. "…after meeting my grim reaper."

"Harry I have told you…" Yet again John cut in.

"He did die, you did pass out, and I am a grim reaper." Hermione's head snapped in his direction. "At any rate Harry it's time for your monthly check up, and to expand the list of people you can tell." John reached in to the side pocket of his cloak, and retrieved a small piece of parchment. "It is not a big expansion, but it is substantial in scope."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"The list of people I can tell Hermione." Harry took the list and read the two names: Tracey Davis and Susan Bones. "Why these two John, I mean Susan is a great person and all but why?"

"All I can tell you is that you will understand in time. I am not being Dumbledore here Harry, but you will literally have to wait and see. And no the rest of the DA must remain in the dark. Aside from the names that are on the list, also you can go ahead with that little plan you were discussing with me. It shouldn't mess up the time stream it has always been an option for you." Harry nodded at this little bit of news. "And about tonight Harry don't push it. Even though she can know we have a strong feeling that Dumbles will be listening in, and we can't have that."

Hermione made her voice heard. "By her you mean Daphne, and by Dumbles I assume you mean Dumbledore?" With a quick nod from John she continued. "Why can't Dumbledore know he would be a great help in this fight?"

"Sadly Ms. Granger you are wrong." He waited for Hermione to say anything when she did not he continued. "Had things gone the way Fate wanted it to yes he would have been but he, meaning Dumbledore, put his faith in the least trustworthy of people. Ronald Weasley has managed to get on the shit-list of more than one goddess." To Harry's amazement Hermione was giving Death a death glare. "What is it Ms. Granger?"

"Are you the reason Harry turned on Ron?" Hermione said with more than a hint of ice in her voice.

"No Hermione, may I call you Hermione?" John asked, and when given the affirmative he continued. "Well Hermione he had killed Harry twice. Once in first year, and once when it what would have been your seventh year of school. All of this is in addition to him physically accosting Daphne in order to keep her away from Harry." At this Hermione's jaw fell. "His petty jealousy stopped a very good thing from happening with Harry, and he helped aid his sister in a self destructive behaviour." He held up his hand to stop her. "Talk to Harry about it, because as it stands I have overstayed my time limit."

And with that John faded back to the realm of the dead. With that Harry turned back to Crabbe and Goyle. He set his bag down and pulled out his quill, ink, parchment, and his wand. He crafted an illusion on Crabbe's clothing that said 'I am with stupid' with an arrow pointing to Goyle, and on Goyle a sign reading 'He is stupider' pointing to Crabbe. He then jotted down a note on parchment that read: Courtesy of the No Ho Body. After he made his hand writing resemble news print Harry turned Goyle over and stuck the note to the back of his cloak. Finally he jinxed their cloaks so they could not be removed for a couple of hours. He also cast a quick light spell to clear his wand, and then proceeded to put his things away. Harry looked over his shoulder at Hermione who was giving him a judgmental look.

"What?"

"This is wrong Harry." Hermione said sternly.

"In a way it is, but honestly Hermione, someone has to do something or they will just keep doing this and getting away with it. And you know it."

"But they could have woken up at any moment Harry. That was very risky." Hermione said crossing her arms.

"Not really Hermione we have only been talking with John for about twenty seconds as far as everyone else is concerned."

"What? That conversation lasted a good ten to fifteen minutes!" Hermione screamed.

"Come on I will explain as we walk."

As they walked Harry told Hermione how John affected time around a person, and that the first time he had discovered this was when John showed up in the middle of Potions class; which while slightly scary had been a welcome reprieve from the lurking glare of Severus Snape. He also took the time to inform her as to how Ron had killed him in there first year, something he had not done previously. This seemed to upset her, but she decided to change the subject back to the hiccup in time. As usual Hermione wanted to know every detail, and came up with a thousand different things that could explain their current bout of time displacement. The simplest of which was they were hovering in that moment between life and death for the recent time 'hiccup', and literal time travel for his deaths. At this point Harry was opening the doors to the Great Hall.

As they entered the Great Hall Harry saw Neville sitting next Tracy and Daphne at the Gryffindor table. The two sat down across from two snakes. Hermione started a small conversation with Neville on Herbology. Both conversations were stopped however by the sudden screaming of Ronald Weasley. Looking down the table he saw Ron backing away from what appeared to be a giant tarantula, and then said tarantula jumped in his direction. This caused the redhead to run towards the exit of the Great Hall. The entire time the spider was chasing Ron out the door, and at that very moment Crabbe and Goyle walked into the room. The laughter that was going throughout the room just exploded as the two walked to their self appointed leader. Harry half wanted to pat himself on the bright colors he had chosen to use for the messages (bright pink for Crabbe and neon green for Goyle). It was only when they passed Draco that the note was revealed. Draco ripped it off, and after reading it looked right at Fred and George.

"Which one of you is No-Ho-Body?" He was pointing at the twins.

Tori responded before the twins "What are you talking about?"

"One of you is No-ho-Body, and when I tell my father…" He didn't get to finish.

"We aren't 'nobody' Malfoy," Fred said.

"…we are somebody!" George finished. At that the entire student body stated laughing.

"What it is true they have names." Tori said only making some students laugh louder.

Crabbe and Goyle started yelling at the twins. They were doing everything short of cursing and damning the twins to Hell.

"That is enough gentlemen. You and Mr. Malfoy will follow me please. Will you accompany us Professor Snape?" Professor Dumbledore said with a slight smile on his face.

The greasy haired git didn't say anything he just stood up and followed Dumbledore and the Slytherin trio out of the double doors. As the laughter died down Harry looked once more to Fred and George, and gave them a simple nod. The grins that he received in return made him worried. Given what he assumes Astoria just did to Ron Harry was certain that if he was not careful he would start a yearlong prank war with at least her 'teachers'. And that was a scary thought.

A slight coughing sound brought his attention back to his friends sitting next to him. Hermione was glaring at him. "Odysseus you are not."

"So, like they will ever figure it out." He said before taking bite out of his chicken leg.

All three of his female friends said as one "Boys."

Tracey turned to Harry and asked "So are you really going to teach her the Patronus charm tonight?"

"Yes I am, and as I said Daphne you can bring whoever you want so long as it makes you feel safe." Harry said resolutely.

"Even Madam Pomfrey?" the raven haired girl had a rare smile on her face, and Harry could not help but internally sigh at the name.

"Yes even Madam Pomfrey." He said with a faux smile on his face.

"Good because I am bring Professor Burbage." At that Harry sighed with relief. "Come eat up hero your teaching me before curfew."

Harry stood up and saluted her with a smile on his face. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

><p>Harry was walking with Professor Burbage and Daphne towards the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, and the awaiting Bogart. Daphne was still a little annoyed with his little saluting stunt during dinner. While Neville seemed to have smiled at it and Tracey shot pumpkin juice out of her nose. Hermione and Daphne did not seem to like the joke. She was walking beside him with arms folded across her chest in absolute defiance of his attempts to apologize. Here he was walking down a darkened hallway with a teacher and one of the most beautiful girls in the school, and he was trying to soothe the whims of the younger female.<p>

Professor Burbage throughout this whole ordeal was trying her damnedest to keep a smile off her face. As they neared the door to the Defence classroom the trio could here two people yelling. As Daphne opened the door the voice of Albus Dumbledore could be heard quite clearly, and by what Harry could see of Remus the werewolf was not happy with the headmaster. Professor Burbage said they should go, but knowing the two the way he did Harry said they would be done shortly. When they could finally see Dumbledore he was red faced with anger, but the moment he saw Harry his face morphed into the grandfather façade once again. After a few more words with Remus farewell and left the room, but Professor Lupin still looked agitated with the old man.

"I am sorry you had to see that." Remus said with a sigh. "I truly believe this job is jinxed."

"You weren't fired were you professor?" Daphne asked with a look of genuine concern on her face. Remus simply shook his head no. "Then why do you say that?"

"Because by the end of next term I am out of a job," Remus laughed. "…but that is not why you are here is it. Come on let's get started." Professor Lupin walked over to the same trunk Harry remembered from when he was learning the Patronus charm. "Now before Harry starts to instruct you I must ask you: what is it you fear the most right now?"

"At the moment sir the dementors on the school grounds," Daphne said this looking at the ground.

"And what is it normally Ms. Greengrass?" Professor Burbage asked.

"That is personal professor. I will only say I hate drunks." With that both professors gave her a concerned look, but said nothing.

Professor Lupin cleared his throat. "Okay Harry you can take over from here." With that the professors got behind the chest. "Okay Harry it's your class from here."

Harry cleared his throat. "Okay Daphne I want you to think of a happy memory; a very happy one." He gave her a moment to find a memory. "Do you have one?" She gave a single nod. "The incantation is expecto patronum. Just let us know when you're ready."

Daphne closed her eyes and seemed to focus on something that brought a beautiful smile to her face. Harry was barely paying attention when she nodded had it not been for Professor Lupin he would have missed her nodding. Harry got behind the chest and opened the lid. They all felt the familiar chill of a dementor as the Bogart exited the chest. Daphne tried to cast the charm four times before she passed out. Professor Burbage went over and checked on Daphne and to give her a piece of chocolate as Remus put the creature back in the chest. Harry at that moment was kicking himself for wanting to rush over there and act like the two were dating. He thought that would make him look like Draco, and that was the last thing he wanted. Once she regained consciousness he went to her side.

"You okay Daphne?" Harry asked.

"I peachy Harry, -bloody Gryffindor.-" Harry was stunned at the Parseltongue. "What is it now Harry, I said I am fine."

-Oh nothing, I am just wondering what memory you chose is all.- The look of stunned amazement that graced her face was priceless even though it last for the briefest of moments. -What is it?-

"You can speak the language of snakes?" Daphne asked this as if she had missed the duelling club events last year. Harry just nodded causing the raven haired girl to huff in exasperation. -So what I heard last year was?-

"It was a basilisk." Harry deadpanned this little bit of information. Daphne face became a mix of fear and joy. -So what did you use as a memory?-

-The moment I was sorted into Slytherin house,- Harry winced. -Is there a problem with that Potter?-

-Nope, it is just not a strong enough memory. You will have to find one stronger than that, preferably a memory that is the happiest you have ever felt.- Harry looked over at Remus and Burbage. Both of them looked completely lost.

"I think I am ready to try again." Daphne tried to hide a smile that was crossing her face, but she was cursing herself for failing miserably.

Daphne watched as Harry nodded, and once again walked behind the chest. Once he was behind the Daphne focused on the Christmas before she started Hogwarts, and how it made her feel to have her whole family together in one place. It was one of the happiest times in her life, if not the happiest. With a simple nod she informed Harry that she was ready. As the faux dementor left the box Daphne cast the charm she felt this swarm of energy around the tip of her wand. Silver light erupted from the wand and something darted end of her wand.

Harry watched in stunned amazement as Daphne's Patronus chased the dementor into the chest. When it darted back to Daphne he could see it clearly for the first time. It was a butterfly, and the raven haired teen looked ecstatic just to have cast the spell. Harry and the other congratulated her on doing it on her second try. Harry asked her to try it again without the Bogart this time, and yet again she preformed the charm flawlessly. They did this three more times before the session was called to an end by the professors. The two parted ways with Daphne promising to see Harry in the morning. Professor Burbage escorted Daphne back to the Slytherin dorms, and against his protest Harry was escorted back to Gryffindor tower. Once back in his dorm Harry noticed an unfamiliar owl sitting on his bed, but the package it was protecting was very familiar to him: the two-way mirror.


	5. Rebuilding

Chapter Five: Rebuilding

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: Keep the reviews coming! Thank you for the votes on my poll question. The tally is: 40 Yes and 0 No. In other words Lucius has no brain what so ever. Also I will be showing multiple P.O.V.s in this chapter to see how you like it. Let me know if I should continue to do this. On with the story! Cheers!

Harry lay there in bed thinking of the day ahead. It was Halloween and they would be going to Hogsmeade today. It was more than talking about his deaths that he needed to cover. He wanted to reform the Marauders, and he needed to know who would join him in this cause. He didn't know Susan well enough to extend her the offer, and he was still unsure if Hermione would accept his offer. Neville was a definite yes. Daphne and Tracey were defiantly on the list for two reasons. Number one they despised Draco and his goons, and two they would give the Marauders an open doorway to Slytherin dorms.

As if just thinking the name 'Marauders' had some kind of sanctified meaning the mirror he held in his hand started to get warmer. Lifting the item so he could look at it Harry saw the face of his godfather for the first time in two years. This nearly brought him to tears. Sure that was another place and time, but it still felt like yesterday that he watched Sirius die in Department of Mysteries.

"Hey, how are you doing Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I am fine and you?" Harry smiled at the nervous look on the man's face.

"Harry, are you sure you want me to bring this truth serum for you?"

"Trust me I think you wouldn't believe me otherwise. About the _other_ conversation we had…" Harry could help but smile at the look that crossed the Marauders face.

"That is not only a very _difficult_ thing to do Harry, but it will be expensive as well, but if you can find the people…" He did not let his godfather finish.

"I am certain I can find the people, but one of them is more like my mother." Harry could see the twinkle in the older man's eyes.

"Really, how much like your mother is she?"

Harry knew where this line of questioning was going. "No Sirius I have no romantic interest in my best mate. She just likes to obey the rules."

"Uh huh I believe you Harry." The barking laugh the man gave was classic Sirius Black.

Harry sighed. "Look Sirius if I am interested in anyone it most certainly would not be someone I view as a sister. Besides that's not what I want to talk about Animagus."

At this the old Marauder smiled. "What do you want to know, and are you going to tell anyone?"

"Everything and I don't plan on telling anyone who is not going to join the brotherhood."

"How do you know about that?" Sirius held up his hands, and started shaking his head. "Never mind I don't want to know if you tell me I might let it slip to Moony. I mean Professor Lupin. God I can't see that old dog as a teacher." He arched an eyebrow. "Wait a minute yes I can."

"As much as I would like to keep chatting Sirius I do have to get dressed."

Sirius got this wicked grin on his face. "Trying to impress Hermione huh?"

"Oh god, I will see you later Sirius."

Harry set the mirror down and gathered some clothes for the day. After taking care of his morning affairs and taking a quick shower he head down stairs. As he arrived at the Entrance Hall he saw Tracey talking with Susan Bones. Ever since he received the updated list Harry had been wondering how he would get Susan to accompany them to Hogsmeade, and it appeared Fate was giving him a hand… maybe.

"Hey Tracey," as Harry approached he noticed Susan starting to walk towards the Great Hall. "Hi Susan, how are you doing today?"

The ginger haired Hufflepuff stopped dead in her tracks. "Fine Harry, how are you?"

"I am doing well. I didn't interrupt anything I hope?" He asked tentatively.

"No you didn't, and don't worry about it Harry." Tracey said rather quickly.

"Well if you two are friends she is more than welcome to come with us to Hogsmeade."

"No that is quite all right Harry I planned on going with some friends, but thank you for asking." Susan said as she walked off to join the other Huffs at their table.

"What was that about Harry?" Tracey asked as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Nothing there is just some news that I thought she would like to be made aware of." He noticed that Tracey's face went pale. "Is something wrong Tracey?"

"No Harry everything is just fine." He could tell she was lying but let it slide knowing how much he liked his own privacy.

Harry took some eggs and bacon, and picked up conversation with Daphne seeing as Hermione was deep in conversation with Neville about the Herbology assignment. Occasionally he would glance over at Remus to see if he was looking okay, and just like last time he looked a little worried about tonight. As the group finished their breakfast Harry's friends asked where they would be meeting Sirius, and when he said near the Shrieking Shack he had to laugh at the paled expressions range from abject terror to curiosity. As they left Harry had this feeling they were being followed. He noticed Tracey take off in another direction saying she would meet them at the Shack. The group watched her run up to Susan, and the two started talking. The group continued to walk towards Hogsmeade and met up with the twins at the base of the hill leading to the Shack.

As they approached the 'haunted' ramshackle house Harry could see a pacing Sirius Black. Harry called out to him. The raven haired prankster walked up to the group with a huge smile on his face. Sirius walked up to the group shaking Harry's hand once he got close to the teens. After a short introduction Sirius brought out a small vial that contained Veritaserum and said he would take some before anyone asked him questions. At that moment the last member of the group of friends joined the group with two extra members. One was Susan, and the other was Ron, but the last one of these was staying behind the other two. Harry shook his head at the red-heads attempt at spying.

"You must be a Weasley." Sirius said with a smile on his face. He expounded upon his statement when Susan shook her head. "The young man behind you two."

Tracey turned around. "You were not invited to this little get together Weasel."

"Oh you quick to talk now that you have support from the traitors and your fellow Slytherin." Ron tried to look intimidating, but was failing.

"Go away Ron we are busy." Harry tried to sound as aggressive as possible, but a small shimmer of light behind his old friend made it hard.

"Oh sure Potter you talk big when there are people to back you up, but you could not stand toe to toe with me." Harry looked over at the others. They all had looks of stunned amazement on their faces, and one look back told him why. Standing behind Ron was Freyja with this wicked grin on her face. Ron had this smirk on his face at the moment, and Harry wanted to bet how long it would stay there. "It looks like your friends, and even Sirius Black, are scared of me Potter."

At that moment there was a resounding boom from the Shrieking Shack. Harry even jumped at the sound. Turning around the-boy-who-lived could see a giant stallion charging at them. Ducking down to avoid getting trampled the raven haired boy looked back to Ron and one of his 'life managers' was smiling wickedly at the screaming Weasley child as he ran off down the hill. Freyja was laughing maniacally as the self-righteous boy ran in abject terror away from the assembled group. As the goddess faded away Harry waved to her, she just flipped him off, yet there was a large smile on her face.

"Harry, who the hell was that woman," Sirius asked with more than a little fear in his voice.

"That was a goddess who oversees a portion of my life my dogfather." He looked back over to the two girls near the base of the hill; the green eyed boy wave for them to join the others. "It's safe girls she just seriously doesn't like Ron." When Tracey and Susan joined them Harry turned to the older member of the group. "Okay old man we can start now."

"That didn't answer the question Harry." Hermione was looking at him with both arms crossed.

Letting out a sight he elaborated. "That was Freyja the Nordic goddess of love and battle. Yes I personally met her, Hecate, and Isis." He gestured to the pin he was given. "If you want to know more I suggest you, Sirius, give me the Veritaserum."

"How did you manage that?" Susan asked.

"Before I answer I will need the truth serum otherwise I don't think you guys would believe me." He held out his hand, and waited for the potion.

"I thought we were going to use it on him." Daphne pointed to Sirius.

"Nope, after I am done he won't need it." He took the offered vial, and before taking the potion he cast a privacy charm. He then waited for the question to start.

"Harry did you really die?" After Hermione asked this question he could hear the sharp intakes of air from the others.

"Yes, eight times to be exact. The last of which was in 1997." He felt the compulsion to answer truthfully and his voice sounded mechanical, and completely devoid of emotion.

Daphne started to cry and moved to run away, but her oldest friend stopped her. It was Tracey who asked the next question. "How do we know you're really Harry?"

"I am Harry James Potter, but I was sent back in time mind and soul from December of 1997 to September first of 1993 to prevent my death and the deaths of thousands of innocent people." He looked over at Daphne, and even though he tried with all his might he could not stop the words that left his mouth next. "And to prevent the suffering of the woman who is my soulmate."

"What are you saying Potter?" the Ice Queen was back, but even that could not shake the potion.

"I was told that you were my soulmate, and at the time I didn't believe it because Ginny had me under a love potion." Hermione breathed in sharply. Daphne looked ready to kill someone, and Harry hoped it wasn't him. "Fred, George there is something I want to ask you."

"What's that mate?" Fred asked.

"Make sure she stops her fascination with me will you." He was cut off of his next sentence by the girl who seemed to take up more of his thoughts as of lately.

"How do we know you are not just an Occlumens resisting the potion?" Daphne shouted.

"Snape tried to teach me, but I failed to learn the skill."

At that moment Daphne stepped forward and pulled out her wand "Legilimens!"

Harry for the first time in years felt the pull of his mind as his vision collapsed in ward to the recesses of his memory. He once again found himself in John's office, and said reaper was sitting behind his desk looking at a smaller file then the one he remembered seeing nearly two months ago. The middle aged man looked amused and Harry hoped it was not because he had died. John looked up and made a gesture beside him, and looking to his left the raven haired teen saw another chair. He looked to his Grim Reaper with a raised eyebrow.

"You are not alone." Looking behind him Harry saw Daphne standing there gobsmacked. "Take a seat Ms. Greengrass. By the way my name is John Jackson I am Harry's Grim Reaper. Yes this is a memory."

"Then how can you enter act with me? I am the only one who should be aware of my presence here aside from Harry." Daphne shouted.

"I am _death_ my dear. No mortal can hide from me." John then took on the classic image of death. "Now take a seat, and I will assume a more acceptable appearance." He waited for Daphne to take the offered chair. "Now what seems to be the problem?"

"Did Harry really die eight times, and is the Harry in my world THE Harry Potter?" Daphne was glaring at death.

"Yes. Do you not remember that dream you had before the first day of school?" John asked with a smile.

"How do you know about that dream?" The shock in Daphne's voice was frightening.

"I am death and that was the _dying_ memory of a version of you that is never to be. A vision that the Fates thought would be beneficial to you." John seemed sympathetic to her plight at that moment. "Now I hate to cut this short, but you can't be here, and take this." John slid a pin over to Daphne, and once she grabbed it the memory was over.

Harry's vision cleared, and he could see everyone still staring at the two of them, and before anyone could say anything Harry asked. "Do you believe me now?" He looked at Daphne as closely as possible without being rude and caught a glimpse of her new pin shining on the left side of her robes. She just nodded. "Does anyone have any more questions?"

"The serum is gone Harry." The assembled group spun around. John was standing behind the assembled group with this wicked smile on his face. One look at the others told Harry they could only see the 'classic' Grim Reaper, and not John. "So who wants a ride across a river?" Everyone stepped back. "Good choice."

"So you're death?" Fred asked.

"Yes, but unfortunately I must go." Harry could hear a collective sigh of relief as John started to fade. "Remember Harry this is it." Harry just nodded.

Once John faded away, and after answering a few more questions, the group started to disperse. As Harry started to walk down the hill he felt someone grab his wrist. Looking over his shoulder he saw Daphne looking at him with watery eyes, and he knew that she had more questions for him. He looked back at Hermione and Neville and told them to go on, and that he would meet up with them at the Three Broomsticks. With a simple nod the two Gryffindors left. The two of them stood there in silence for a few minutes before Daphne broke down and started crying. Harry's immediate reaction was to try and comfort the raven haired girl with words, but that only caused her to start hitting him repeatedly in the chest. Eventually she threw her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest.

"How could you not know me Harry I have to beat most boys off with a stick, and even then a few don't listen." Daphne finally asked.

"Two words: Ronald Weasley." Daphne growled at the name. "At the time I thought like him, but he was running interference with anyone trying to be my friend really. Remember the troll incident in first year?"

"How could I forget? Draco kept whining about it all the way to the dungeons." Harry bit back a laugh. "Why do you ask?"

"Ron was/is an insensitive bastard. After charms class he made Hermione cry and she spent the rest of the afternoon crying in the girl's lavatory. If I hadn't said anything he would have left with the others and let her die." Harry saw a scowl cross Daphne's face. "I was told he kept you away from even seeing me."

"He did, remember when Lockhart tried to fix your arm?" Harry nodded. "Well I went to see you after Madam Pomfrey let you have visitors, but the ponce said you wouldn't want to be friends with an inbred Death Eater. I spent the rest of the weekend crying." Daphne smiled. "Tracey wanted to hex him."

"I know a goddess who would like to do more than that." A crack of thunder got their attention. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that." Harry looked into the blue-green eyes of the Slytherin Ice Queen.

"Maybe," Daphne leaned in close to him. "So what do we do now Harry?"

"I don't know. I was thinking maybe we could go on a date. I mean that is if you want to." Even though the words came out fine Harry could feel his heart racing as Daphne leaned in closer.

"I would love to."

The raven haired boy felt a soft pair of lips press into his. Unlike his first kiss with Ginny this just felt right. He could feel this energy flow between them, and he had no desire to let it end. Just as he was getting used to this feeling Harry felt a surge of energy flow between the two of them. What broke their kiss, aside from the need to breath, was the sound of someone screaming in agony. As the two parted Harry looked in the direction of the sound to find Ron and Draco laying on the ground about three meters away. Beyond those two were Hermione, Tracey, Neville, Susan, Percy, and Penelope Clearwater. Draco was screaming about his arm, and once Percy was near him Ron started saying something about Daphne cursing Harry. "They are soul-bound" was Percy's response.

"How do you know she didn't curse him Percy?" Ron bellowed.

"For one Ron a curse, hex, or jinx cannot mimic a soul-bond. Two the reaction of you and Mr. Malfoy trying to touch them proves it is a soul-bond. If you need a third reason the intensity of the aura alone says they are soulmates." Percy then looked over at Draco. "And what is your reason for charging them Mr. Malfoy?"

"That is none of your business Weasley!" Draco spat in aggravation.

"Well the two of you will accompany me to the Headmasters office, and then Draco I will escort you to Madam Pomfrey after we are done there." He then looked over at Penelope. "I am sorry to cut our date short Penny…"

"It is okay Percy. I think I will accompany you; a second witness to this event will be impossible for Mr. Malfoy to disprove." Penelope glared at Draco. "Besides he deserves detention at the least for this."

"How dare you filthy mudblood!" Those words left Draco's mouth before his 'cunning political' mind could stop them.

"That will cost you twenty points Mr. Malfoy." Percy voice for the first time in all the years Harry knew him carried this sense of anger and rage.

"Don't let him get to you Percy." Penny placed a hand on the elder Weasley's shoulder. "Harry once you're done in Hogsmeade I am sure the Headmaster will wish to see you and Daphne." Harry and Daphne nodded their acquiescence, and watched as the two seventh years escorted Ron, Draco, and the two trolls back to the castle.

Harry looked back at his friends and saw that his best mate was smiling along with Tracey. As the four other third years approached them Harry felt warmth crawl across his cheeks. He felt Daphne interlace her fingers with his. Neville seemed stunned, but it didn't take him long to break into a smile of his own. Harry looked over at Daphne and saw a blush gracing the Ice Queen's face, and he had to admit she looked cute like that.

"So what should we call you two; how about the Crimson Duo?" Tracey's comment made Harry break out in laughter. This however made everyone else laugh as Daphne started to hit him on the shoulder.

"I give, I give. As much fun as this is guys we need to beat Ron to Gryffindor tower, and the twins would be helpful to that end." Harry then looked over at Hermione. "And we will need your little device to do this."

"How did you…" Hermione began.

"Last time through third year you and I had to use it to save Sirius and Buckbeak's lives. Ron had broken leg and couldn't help… thank God." Everyone raised an eyebrow at him. "Long story, let's go I know a way we can cut our travel time in half."

"How are we going to do that?" Susan asked.

"Easy the Shrieking Shack hides a passage that leads to Hogwarts from underneath the Whomping Willow."

"But the Shrieking Shack is haunted Harry." Neville's face paled at the mere mention of the place.

"No it's not, that is also something I learned last time though. Now shall we get the twins before Ron and Draco ruin all our lives?"

* * *

><p>Ron was fuming as he listened to the Headmaster give both him and Draco a week's worth of detention with Filch, and banned him from going to Hogsmeade for attacking a fellow student. If Dumbledore only understood that Harry was under the some kind of curse he would understand why he had attacked the harlot. At the moment he was standing in front of sir Sneers-a-lot Snape, and listening to two Death Eaters argue over what right Draco had to touch the Ice Queen. As if all that wasn't bad enough he had to listen to Draco whine about the pain in his arm even though Madam Pomfrey already set it. Hopefully he would have to sit out the Quidditch mach next week, and the spell that the bitch had Harry under would be gone so Gryffindor could stomp Slytherin into dust.<p>

He heard the Floo light up again, and when he turned to see who it was he felt the blood drain from his face. His mum looked ready to explode, and his dad looked ready to sell tickets to the event. They walked over to the group and started talking to Percy and that Ravenclaw girl. 'Honestly can't any date people from their own House?' he thought. His mum seemed to have the same reaction that he did when Percy told her the news of the spell placed upon Harry. She would know how to fix the spell cast on him.

"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HARRY!" His mum was defiantly angry.

"Mum it was that Slytherin whore she has bewitched Harry!"

"That 'Slytherin whore' is my daughter young man!" The man that had been talking to Malfoy senior retorted.

"You probably taught her the spell Death Eat…" he was cut off by his father.

"RON!" the younger Weasley male flinched he had never been yelled at by his father before. "The Greengrass family never supported You-Know-who, and how dare you involve yourself in Harry's love life." His father looked over at the man with salt 'n peppered hair. "I am sorry Kyle my son is a bit fanatical about the houses."

"So it seems." The man looked over at his father. "Don't worry Arthur I don't hold you responsible. It's not like he, or you, are trying to force my daughter into a marriage." The man smile broadened. "Lily would be proud of Harry, and I think Alice will be ecstatic that our daughter and Harry are dating."

"That's right the two of them were best friends weren't they Kyle?" The other man shook his head in agreement.

Ron just stood there gobsmacked. His father was defending the inbred swine's daughter, and for some unholy reason Lily Potter knew the man's retched wife. "Why would Harry's mum care about a Slytherin?"

"Mr. Weasley my wife was a Ravenclaw, and I fail to see where that is any of your business." The man looked over at Lucius. Ron smiled certainly the man would show his true loyalties now. "And Lucius if your son so much as looks at my daughters again I will seek reparations within the courts."

"You dare to talk to my father like that Greengrass!" Draco spat out.

"Mr. Malfoy your son would be wise to remember that while he may be a member of the Ancient House of Malfoy he, nor you, belong to an Ancient and Noble family." The venom in the man's voice was hard for Ron to ignore.

"Of course Lord Greengrass," Malfoy said bowing slightly to the other man. "…and I am sure my son will cease his attempts to court your daughter."

"That would be 'daughters' Lucius."

Everyone spun around to look at the entrance of the headmaster's office. Standing in there were Harry, the Ice Queen, and Sirius Black. Harry and the bitch were now holding hands. Ron could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He looked over at the headmaster and saw Professor Dumbledore smiling. How could he smile at this the man was a Gryffindor! Before he could say anything Professor Dumbledore was congratulating Harry and his 'girlfriend' on their new relationship and giving them point for showing school 'unity'. He was so angry that Harry would turn his back on him that he stopped listening to his mother and father. This however did not go unnoticed.

His mother grabbed his arm. "Are you listening to us Ronald Weasley?"

"Sorry mum I am just worried about Harry." He wanted to say more, but his father cut him off.

"In this instance Ronald that would be Lord Potter," the younger Weasley's jaw fell open. "Harry's father was a Lord and member of the Wizengamot and the head of an Ancient and Noble family. Seeing as you have insulted both him and his girlfriend I am surprised they have not asked for your expulsion."

"None of this Lord Potter stuff Mr. Weasley your family has always been good to me. I also think that asking for Ron's expulsion is a bit much." Harry said with a smile. Maybe he was not cursed but corrupted. Ron shook his head at this thought. No, Harry could not fall to the side of the dark, but he was a glory hog.

"You might not ask for it Harry, but I will." The Weasley matriarch voice was deep and dark.

"But mum I am…"

His mum was not in the mood to listen to him apparently.

"No 'buts' Ronald Weasley you have disgraced this family." she turned to the headmaster. "How are his grades Professor Dumbledore?"

"Not good I'm afraid, but Molly pulling him out is a bit drastic." Ron smiled at Professor Dumbledore coming to his defense.

"I don't know about that Headmaster. Ron has been trying to control who I associate with for a while now." Harry said flatly.

"I HAVE NOT! I am just looking after you mate there is no way she really loves you!" Ron was getting annoyed with the level of control this whore had over Harry. Maybe she was using one of the Unforgivable Curses on him. He could think of the name, but he knew it controlled the mind of the victim. If no one would say anything he would. His friend's safety was paramount. "Harry I am your best mate, and if no one else will say this I will! She may have used one of the Unforgivable Curses on you…"

The youngest Weasley male didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as he felt a hand collide with the left side of his face. He looked back at his parents to see his mother's face matched the color of her hair. Ron knew he had to do something, but he couldn't think of what to say. If only Hermione were here she could help him tell the others the reason for his fear. Why else would she still be hanging out with the foolish git?

Ron was pulled out of his thoughts when his mum grabbed his arm and started dragging him out of the headmaster's office. He tried to defend his accusation, but she would not listen. He looked behind him hoping that his father would be there to support him but all he could see was an empty hallway.

* * *

><p>Ginny was studying with Tori when she heard a commotion start at the entrance to the tower. Looking over she saw her mum dragging Ron into the common room. Her mum looked livid, and Ginny was certain that Ron had done something to Daphne or Harry. Over the last two weeks she had heard him constantly claim that Daphne had placed some kind of curse on Harry to make him turn his back on their friendship. He even criticized Hermione for choosing to hang out with Neville instead of him. The fool even went so far as to say Daphne was the reason he was failing potions.<p>

Her mum marched him right up to the boys' dorm entrance telling him to go get his things. Her mum stood there until her brother went up stairs. Her mother then walked over to Ginny, and the look on her face was not angry but sad. Ginny had a good guess as to what, but didn't want to say anything unless she was way off. Thankfully Tori spoke first.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley. Did Ron do something to Daphne or Harry?" Tori seemed to be taking after the twins in her bluntness.

"Both of them actually, and Ginny I need to talk to you for a moment please."

Her mother sounded dreadfully sad, and Ginny wondered what Ron had done. She knew Harry was noble, but she didn't know if he knew, and if he did then maybe he asked for some kind of reprisal. Once they got to a secluded portion of the room she turned to her mother and asked "What did he do?"

"Ronald attacked Harry and Daphne as their soul-binding was occurring." At that moment Ginny's heart sank. She had read enough about soulmates to know that the bound was unbreakable, and she had hoped that she and Harry would be soulmates. But now she knew that that was a fleeting pipe dream.

They talked for a while longer, and that was mostly her mum telling her not to do what she had done with her father. After repeatedly telling her she wouldn't her mum let her get back to what she was doing. Apparently she looked pretty bad as she could see everyone in the common room looking sympathetic towards her. When she got back to Tori the other girl asked what was wrong, and it was at that point she broke down. All her hopes and dreams were shattered, and there was nothing she could do to save them. Ginny told Tori everything from her hopes that she would one day marry Harry and have a family; and about the recent events with her sister.

* * *

><p>Harry watched Molly drag Ron out of the headmaster's office. He had to fight with every fiber of his being not to crack a smile at the scene in front of him. Sure Ron had been a good friend, but his idea that every Slytherin was bound and determined to become a dark witch or wizard was asinine at best. As he turned back to his girlfriend she looked happy and at the same time frightened. Harry followed Daphne's gaze to a man who could only be her father. That is if the scowl on Lucius face was any indication to the man's identity.<p>

"Hello Daphne. I have heard some interesting things about you today. I was wondering if they might be true." The man smiled at Daphne before giving her a quick hug.

"And what were you told father?" Daphne asked with a smile on her face.

"That you and Lord Potter are soul-bound Daphne, and if this is true I must welcome the new member of our family." The man looked over at Harry. "Is this true young man?"

Harry looked over at Daphne who just gave him the slightest of nods. "Yes it is sir and please it is just Harry Mr. Greengrass." Harry held out his hand.

"Well then we have something to look forward to in the near future Harry, and you may call me Kyle." The man's brown eyes had this glow in them that screamed humor. Harry wondered if he is where Tori got it from. "Well I am afraid I have to go, and Sirius if you are Harry's guardian I think you will be needed for the paper work as well."

"I have always hated bureaucracy Kyle." Sirius said this with a wicked smile on his face.

"Well you better get used to it. You will be a member of the Wizengamot in a few days." Richard started laughing.

"Don't remind me…"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Richard threw some Floo Powder into the fireplace, and before stepping into it he turned to Lucius. "Lucius you may wish to remind your son that trying to destroy a soul bound is a fatal mistake." And with that he tossed the powder into the fire "Ministry of Magic!"

"What did he mean by that father?" Draco asked trying to sound suave, but his face belied his feelings of dread.

"Since they are soul-bound Draco if you or anyone tries to break them apart the magic behind the bond will kill you." Lucius turned his gaze to Harry. "You seem to carry a lot of luck with you Potter, but one day that luck will run out."

"In your dreams maybe, but in reality the answer is no." Harry just smiled at the man as he took Daphne's hand, and walked out of the office.

Harry and Daphne walked like this throughout the corridors leading up to seventh floor, and once they were there the two met up with their friends in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. He let go of Daphne's hand and paced in front of the wall thinking of a room in which he could chat with his friends in private, and not be disturbed. On the third pass the doors appeared, and Harry opened the doors for the others. Once he looked inside the room looked like a combination of the Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff common rooms. The others looked back at him with shocked looks on their faces.

"I found this room thanks to Dobby in fifth year." Everyone just stared at him for answers. "All in due time, God I sound like Dumbles, but right now I would like to talk about a group known as the Maruaders…"


	6. Rinse, Lather, Repeate

Chapter Six: Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: Italics are a flashback or Parseltongue and Italics that are bolded are the secret message in Sirius' letter to Harry. Bolded text is from Prisoner of Azkaban. Keep the reviews coming! Cheers!

B/N 1: This is a rewrite of the chapter. Not much has changed.

It had been a week since he had revealed the truth to his closest friends, and they wouldn't stop complaining about him having an unfair advantage in class. At the moment Harry was eating his breakfast, and he could not help but smile at the bewildered look on Dumbledore's face. The old man had tried twice this week to read his mind, and even when he was rebuffed he still tried to verbally control the situation. These efforts failed for two reasons: one Harry knew he meant well, but having played this game before, he didn't want to come up with the same results. And two; he just wanted to live HIS life for once and not let someone else do it for him. Now granted there were strings attached, but he was given a chance to do things his way and he would be damned if he let it blow right past him.

The irony of the whole situation was that he still had to face Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin in the first Quidditch match, and he could only pray that the Dementors stayed away. Yet the phrase 'wish in one hand shite in the other' kept coming to mind. If they showed he would have to make a mad dash towards the pitch to insure Dumbledore could save his backside. On the plus side his girlfriend would be in the Gryffindor stands cheering for him.

That was another thing he had to get used to. Sure Ginny was a nice girl, but Daphne was something else entirely. She was direct and to the point, whereas Ginny was subtle yet demanding. Daphne was not adverse to using sex appeal to change the topic away from something, whereas Ginny was more of the girl next door stereotype about such things. The list went on, but Harry just shook his head. Ginny was not Daphne, and to compare the two was like comparing apples to oranges.

"Thinking of one of our favorite Slytherin girls again Harry?" Oliver asked.

The whole week Daphne and Tracey had been going to Gryffindor quidditch practice, and it didn't take long for them to warm up to the entire team. "Yes mate, and to be honest I can't get her out of my mind."

Oliver just laughed. "And that is why I don't have a girlfriend."

"No you don't have one because you are married to quidditch." Alicia said with a smile on her face.

"And you have a problem with that?" Wood asked with a smirk on his face.

"No of course not," Alicia said this smiling at Oliver.

Oliver stood up. "Well I am going to the locker-room to go over my notes on Slytherin's team. Does anyone want to join me?"

"Sure Oliver I'll join you." Alicia said as she stood up to follow him.

The rest of the team watched as Oliver and Alicia walked off together. Alicia was inching closer to Oliver the further they walked away from the group. Fred and George started laughing to themselves as the 'couple' walked out of the Great Hall. The rest of the team wasn't far behind them in laughing at their captain's blatant denial about being in love. As breakfast came to an end, Fred and George walked up to him with a mischievous smile plastered on their faces. Harry knew they generally did not prank people before a game, and he was using the term 'generally' very loosely, so what they were smiling about was a complete mystery to him.

"What did you two do now?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Why would," Fred said.

"…You think," George said.

"…We have done anything?" They finished as one.

"Well since I am just starting in the field of mischief making I recognize that look on your faces. Besides I have known you two for three years now, so I know those looks." Harry put the 'three years' part in quotations.

"We have done nothing," George said.

"…but we were wondering what happened after we left and who the Marauders are now?"

Harry just started laughing. "Well if you hadn't left the meeting…"

"We are not worthy to bare that name." The twins said together.

Harry began the story in a low whisper. "Okay okay. You guys remember…"

_"All in due time, God I sound like Dumbles, but right now I would like to talk about a group known as the Marauders…"_

_"You know the Marauders!" Fred and George screamed as one._

_"Yes, and to be honest you just met Padfoot." The twins looked like they wanted to faint. "Who here has heard that name before?" Aside from the twins Daphne and Tracey were the only ones who raised their hands. "What would you two say if I wanted to restart the group?" Harry asked pointing at the two girls._

_"Are you insane?" Daphne and Tracey responded._

_"Whoa mate I don't think we need to be present for this." Fred said._

_"Yes mate I think you would be our competition." George said grinning like the Cheshire cat._

_"Wait what?" Hermione asked, and when the twins said nothing she looked over to Harry. "What are the Marauders?"_

_"A group of friends who banded together to help one of their friends with a horrible condition, and when together were some of the best pranksters this school has ever seen." Hermione at this point was giving him a death glare. "Here me out for a minute Hermione…" Harry heard the door shut, and figured the twins just left. "The Marauders were my father, Sirius, and Professor Lupin."_

_"What?" the remaining members of the group asked._

_"Well Peter Pettigrew was a member as well, but that was when he was on the side of the Light." Harry said this with near visceral hatred. Daphne walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "The reason the group was formed in the first place is because Professor Lupin has been a werewolf since he was a small child." Harry had to hold up his hand to stop people from talking. He then went on to explain the reasoning for this, and why the Shrieking Shack is called such, and how the Marauders were formed. He then asked "Anyway I was wondering if anyone wanted to join me in reforming the organization."_

_"Wait Harry you're telling us that Professor Lupin hides in the shack during the full moon?" Hermione asked._

_"Yes, and that is so he doesn't hurt anyone. He really doesn't like the disease Hermione. He is not Fenrir Greyback. He takes wolfsbane to counter the disease, but that is not the important thing."_

_"How is that not important?" Hermione asked._

_"Simple: Who wants to prank the bullies of this school into submission?"_

_"Not me Harry, my aunt would kill me," was Susan's response._

_"Same goes for me. I would be a walking disaster in any kind of prank." Neville answered. "Plus my gran would not let up on the lecture, sorry mate."_

_"Count me in." Tracey said this with venom in her voice. "I owe Crabbe the prank from hell."_

_"Tracey!" Daphne screamed at her friend._

_"Is there something I should know?" Harry asked._

_"I will tell you later." Daphne looked over at Tracey, and then back at Harry. "If she is going to be a Marauder then so am I."_

_"Harry this is…" Hermione stopped herself, and closed her eyes. "Why are you doing this?"_

_"There will be a prank war the likes this school hasn't seen in years when the twins 'graduate.' That's just one reason. The second is that in our fifth year there will be a teacher that will torture students to get what she wants." He took a moment to let this sink in. "Finally it is a payback for all those who think they can just push people around. I will not lie to you guys my father and godfather were some of the worst bullies this school has seen, but that's not what we will become."_

_"I will make sure of that." Hermione said._

_"So that is a yes?" Harry asked. She shook her head in acquiescence. "Oh and we will become animagi."_

"What!" the twins cut into the recitation of the events of last Saturday.

"You know that's what they said." The twins looked at one another and smiled. "No boys if you become animagi you may not call yourselves the Marauders." The boys just started laughing.

"No no Harry," Fred said.

"…we get it,"

"…you're our competition." Fred finished.

Harry started to walk towards the exit that would take him Hagrid's hut. "Not yet boys, but I will let you know when we start. See you in the locker room."

Harry drew his cloak up, and ran to the half-giant's hut. The rain was coming down harder than he remembered, and all Harry could do was laugh. It did feel good to know that not everything changed when you went back in time. As he ran towards Hagrid's hut he could feel the air got colder. Harry drew his wand, and he started to pray that everyone was all right. About a meter away from the hut Harry could see John waving him down, and Harry's heart sank. Once he was at the hut John just handed him a not saying "Read it later", and then he left. Harry immediately ran into Hagrid's hut.

Insert line

Daphne was sitting in the hut of one of Harry's oldest friends. Listening to Draco one would think that the man would be nothing more than a brainless oaf, and while one could look at him that way what they could not deny was that Hagrid was good with animals. The man was tall and wide yes, but where that would scare most people away his personality made him a very loveable person. To think that he was the first one Harry met from the magical world made Daphne giggle a little bit. If she were in Harry's shoes she would have been terrified of the man, but then again she probably would have gone round the twist long before then with relatives like his.

She looked over to her oldest friend Tracey. She looked genuinely happy for the first time in five years. Sure Tracey put on a brave and cheerful face, but since her mum died she always seemed dead inside to Daphne. She had been there the night her father, the drunken bastard, killed her mum. Daphne witnessed the whole damn thing. The fact that her mum and dad took Tracey in helped the two of them become like sisters. Sure like sisters they had their disagreements, but those were nothing. It was like the relationship Harry had with Hermione, and like Hermione she was the brains while Tracey was the muscle. At the moment said friend/sister was sitting there talking to Hagrid, and had one hand firmly interlaced with Susan Bones' hand. This had been revealed to Daphne about three days ago, but it was still stunning to see Tracey radiating this happy aura. She wanted to laugh at the humour of it all. Here she had been thought of as gay up until last Saturday, and Tracey was seen as miss boy magnet. Okay maybe she wasn't a boy magnet, but given the way boys looked at her she could have been.

The door to Hagrid's hut flew open. Standing there in the door way was a very drenched Harry Potter. Tracey started laughing and all Daphne could do was shake her head in disbelief. He didn't even bother with the drying charm before Harry rushed up to her and wrapped her in his arms and giving her a passionate kiss. While she enjoyed the kiss it was a bit embarrassing.

"Hello 'arry, awful time for the four of you to come see old 'agrid." Hagrid said in a jovial voice.

"Not really Hagrid. I just thought that my new friends would like to meet one of my oldest." Harry smiled at the smiling half-giant.

"Well you could have waited for me to cast the drying charm on you first ya know." Daphne said before she leaned back and tried to pull out her wand. "Harry you're going to have to let me go to do this."

"What if I don't want to?" He whined.

"Harry." Daphne said a sternly as she could, and Harry relented. Once they were both dry she tried to hug him again, but he backed away. "Harry."

"Nope you didn't want me to hug you so…" He said this with a coy smile on his face. Daphne started to pout. "Oh all right." Daphne leaned up and kissed him, and she could hear her best friend laughing in the corner. "What is it Tracey, and it's good to see you Susan."

"About time he noticed we were here." Tracey said lifting her hand.

Harry looked stunned for a bit, but just as Daphne was starting to get worried his words and smile put her mind at ease. "Congratulation you two, when did this start?"

"Since the beginning of summer break actually." Susan answered with a smile. "My mum and dad know and are very supportive of it all. I am just worried how Tracey's guardians will feel about this." Susan's smile seemed to fade.

"Like I told you two my mum and dad will support her no matter what, unless she commits a grand felony or something." Daphne said with a smile, and Tracey just stuck out her tongue.

"She lives with you?" Daphne nodded. "Cool so I will be seeing you both." Harry said with a goofy smile on his face.

"Don't get any funny ideas mister." All three girls said this at the same time.

Hagrid started laughing hysterically. "I think they have you pegged Harry."

The laughter and banter carried on for a few more minutes before Harry had to leave to get ready for the match. He left John's note with Daphne saying he didn't want to lose it. This of course brought some more ribbing from the blonde of the group. Daphne smiled as she watched Harry run like the cat that had the canary.

"Like what you're watching Daph," Susan asked.

"I would if it wasn't raining." Daphne said looking over her shoulder.

Insert line

Ron was walking down Diagon Ally in a heavy weather cloak groaning that not only did he have to do his school work, but now he also had to do chores to boot. He thought Snape was bad, but the man was a saint compared to his mum. As it stood he was buying up the ingredients for one of the hardest potions she had him do this week: Confusing Concoction. Where Snape didn't care what he turned in his mum wanted perfection. In his mind he should be preparing to cheer Harry on at the first quidditch match of the season, but no he is here in Diagon Ally having to answer a bunch of stupid questions about why he isn't in school. With ever telling the glares he received for insulting Harry's 'girlfriend' got worse. The apothecary shoved the ingredients he purchased into his hand demanding he leave the store immediately. They worst one he got was from Mr. Fortescue who told him he had no right in trying to dictate who 'Mr. Potter' was 'friends' with. Of course Ron had that right he was Harry's (former) best mate, and that's what best mates do watch each other's backs!

"Damn it Potter I can't believe you fell for that slag's trick." Ron said as he neared the Leaky Cauldron.

"Angry about Potter are you young Weasley." The silver tongued voice of Lucius Malfoy came ringing into his ears.

Ron spun around and glared at the snake. "You probably put her up to it in the first place." He wanted to go for his wand, but he knew if he did anything in the Ally his mum would not let him even think about going back to school next year.

"No on the contrary Mr. Weasley I wanted her to be with my son Draco, and if you recall you both ran at the couple. Each with your own reason, and if I may say I think you and I have a mutual enemy." The man drew closer to Ron.

"And who would that be?" Ron asked raising an eyebrow.

"Harry Potter." Ron scowled at the name. He didn't understand why, but all he could feel for his former best mate was this deep unyielding rage. Mr. Malfoy slid a piece of parchment into his bag. "I am not asking you to make your mind up now Mr. Weasley, but when you realize who you're _truly _loyal to you can contact me using this name, and for god's sake don't use your family owl." With that Lucius Malfoy walked away.

Ron took out the piece of parchment, and read the name: L. Mortis. His first instinct was to throw it away, but just thinking back to what the man said about Harry made him seethe just by think the brat's name. "I have never thought of him that way, but it fits." He slid the note in his pocket. "Harry Potter the not-so-pampered-brat."

Insert line

The rain was beating down on him hard, and Harry could only pray that a bolt of lightning didn't do him in. The last thing he need right now was to explain to John how a bolt of lightning had doomed the world to ruin. At the moment he was scanning the skies for the Snitch, and was not having much luck in finding it. He knew where it end up the last time around and no matter how many times he looked in that general direction he could not see the damned thing.

"Diggory seems to have found the Snitch!" The sound of Lee Jordan's voice snapped him out of his recollections. Turning around Harry saw that Cedric was in the dead center of the field head straight up into the clouds. Not wanting Cedric to die at the hands of the dementors he put his Nimbus into overdrive. "Harry is trying to close the distance, but the wind is pushing him backwards. Come on Harry you can do it!"

"I hope your right." Harry whispered.

Just like last time the wind was knocking him around, and it felt as if his Nimbus was stalling out on him. The closer he got to the other seeker the further away the Snitch seemed. When he pulled even with Cedric Harry could feel the temperature drop like a stone, and he wanted to scream at the other boy to give up the chase, but he knew that would sound so wrong. Harry knew the dementors would come after him so he pointed his broom towards the ground and stepped on it. He could hear the things giving chase, and just as he cleared the clouds one of them started sucking his energy away. He could see the center of the pitch, and smiled a little as his vision went blurry. He was expecting to hear his mother's voice, but that was not the sound that graced his consciousness.

_"I am telling you he is dead woman!" the ice voice of Draco Malfoy rang out._

_"He will return you just wait and see! Harry Potter is not dead!" Daphne screamed. The sound of someone being smacked across the face, and then the sound of something heavy falling to floor reverberated through the blackness. "You will pay for that." The woman said through sobs._

_"Sure I will you whore." Draco said before he smacked Daphne across the face once more._

**"Lucky the ground was soft."**

**"I thought he was dead for sure."**

Harry wanted to smile it was like déjà vu all over again. The only divergence from the last time around was this weight he felt on his chest. He opened his eyes, and smiled at the group laid out before him. Like last time Hermione's eyes were blood shot. Tracey seemed to be comforting her while Susan was glaring at Fred. Harry glanced down to see what was sitting on his chest and his smile only got bigger when he recognized Daphne's crying form lying in bed with him.

"Did we win?" was his immediate 'question'.

"HARRY!" Daphne screamed as she launched herself at him. She threw her arms around his neck as the tears she was shedding increased. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"I won't I promise." Harry looked over at the other members of the team. "I take it by the looks of things the game was called?"

"No Harry you guys lost." Susan said a look of sadness on her face. "Cedric tried to get them to schedule a rematch, but Oliver turned it down."

**"He still in the showers," Fred said. "We think he is trying to drown himself."** At this point Alicia started hitting Fred on the arm.

Harry could hear the group get into the argument of how they could still win the cup, but he was more interested in calming his girlfriend. Her crying had stopped, but she still had a death grip on him. He eventually asked about his broom, and like last time it had flown into the Whomping Willow and was decimated. He smiled lightly saying that was meaningless compared to what could have happened.

"Are you trying to piss off you girlfriend?" Tracey asked with a smile on her face.

"Not really." Harry said with a smile. He was subsequently hit by Daphne. "What did I say?"

"Something you shouldn't have." The sound of Sirius' voice made everyone look to the open doorway. What shocked Harry about this was that Madam Rosmerta was standing next to him smiling at the collective gathering of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. "See Janet I told you he would be okay."

Madam Rosmertta hit Sirius on the arm. "If I remember correctly it was you that was a tad overly concerned about his wellbeing."

"Well milady I would not be a very good godfather if I wasn't." Sirius looked back to Harry with a smile. "Well since you're doing fine Harry, and this place is a bit crowded I think I will leave you for the moment."

Once Sirius and Madam Rosmertta, and the other quidditch players were gone Daphne turned to him, and pulled out the note into Harry's hands. "Read this before I hurt you."

"Why?"

"I thought it was a death note, but I couldn't open it. Now read the damned thing." Daphne huffed.

"So you can use foul language but I can't uh?" Harry asked with a smile on his face. Daphne just continued to glare at him. "Okay, okay." The note was short and simple, but very bone chilling.

_Harry you can save Cedric. All our calculations were based on something that did not happen, but Fate just handed us a bombshell. The person you cannot save now is listed below along with the reason why._

_Ronald Bilius Weasley_

_1 March, 1980-2 May, 1998_

_Final Battle Between you and Voldemort, and he IS an irredeemable Death Eater at this point._

The note fell out of his hands, and landed in Daphne's lap.


	7. Christmas and Spiders

Chapter Seven: Christmas and Spiders

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: _Parseltongue, flashbacks, and dreams_. I have a new Poll out for everyone. If it does not affect this story it will affect one that is upcoming so don't worry. Sorry it has taken so long, but I had tech issues, plot bunnies to deal with, and I wanted to get this year done right. Keep the reviews coming!

A/N 2: There is a new poll. Answers are need. Thank you.

B/N 1: This is a rewrite of the chapter. Not much has changed.

The light snow fall was in many ways refreshing to Harry. It had been a hell ridden two months for him. The classes were fine, hell even Binns was enjoyable. Okay maybe the sleep was enjoyable, but still the boring teacher's ramblings were better than repeatedly reading the note John had given him. They had all talked with John that following Saturday, but even that didn't bring the group any solace.

_Harry and the gang were in the library studying for their end of term exams and debating the issue of Ronald Weasley's death. He had told them on a number of occasions that this could not be avoided. The last person he would have had to let go was a greater man than Ronald could ever hope to be, but if he lived it would cause the deaths of thousands of people because his girlfriend was meant for a man who without her would go psycho. This opened up the inevitable question of why this was, but he really couldn't answer this because he didn't know the man's name._

_"So you're telling us that someone who is a 'great man' would have had to die or thousands would die instead." He nodded. "…but you don't know who this man is?"_

_"That's right love, but it is not just some 'great man' it is Cedric Diggory." When he finally revealed that the 'Cedric' mentioned in the note was the well-loved 'Puff everyone breathed inward. He looked around to see if anyone else was nearby, and once certain of their privacy he said "I watched him die in the coming year at the hands of Voldemort." Everyone else shivered. "Oh stop it; if I must I will use his birth name."_

_"I would advise that Harry." The sound of John's voice was a welcome relief to Harry. "I am sorry to just drop the letter and run, but if I was anywhere near you during the match…"_

_"Don't even finish that SENTENCE." Daphne cried out._

_"Sorry MISSES Potter, but it is true." John smiled as Daphne glared at him._

_Hermione asked the question that was on all six of their minds. "We can't convince him, meaning Ronald, to change his ways?"_

_"No I am afraid not. When the note said irrevocable Death Eater we meant as of this moment, not four years in the future." John sounded completely business-like, but Harry could see the pain in his eyes. "I am sorry Harry I knew he was one of your closest friends, but free will and all that…"_

_"He was probably listening to an idiot John. I don't know the when or who that caused this, but I know the why. He is jealous of me and Hermione and our ever growing circle of friends." Harry said this sternly, but on the inside he was dying._

_Apparently Hermione could see through his charade. "We all make our choices they don't make us, Harry, and Ronald never was good at doing the right thing." Hermione said with finality. Harry was expecting to see hurt in her eyes, but could find none. "What's wrong Harry?"_

_"It's nothing Hermione, just something from my past time through." He tried to smile but even Daphne could see he was lying as she had both hands on her hips._

_"Your busted Harry, look I would love to stay and chat, but all I can say is don't try and change him. It will only make things worse than they will be." With that John faded in a puff of smoke._

_"What did you mean by 'from my past' Harry?" Hermione now also had her arms crossed and was glaring at Harry as well._

_"You were in love with him in the other timeline, but I don't think that is possible now." He said deflated._

_"No Harry it is not. I know what the Death Eaters stand for, and I cannot nor will I ever allow myself to become enamoured with a bigot." Hermione said this with finality._

_"Good to know; now we can get back to work on animagus forms." Harry said with a smile._

_"I don't think so mister." Daphne said._

_"Yes you still need to work on your Ancient Runes homework." Hermione said while glaring at him._

_"Awe man," Harry hung his head down, "…just my luck."_

Harry just shook his head at the memory. Even his girlfriend was into Hermione's early revision idea. She said it made sense, and that she would give it a try. Harry was beginning to see why Hermione was the brightest witch of the age, and Daphne was a close second. His only saving grace today was that it was a Hogsmeade weekend. He looked to the other side of the common room and saw Ginny with a sad look on her face. She appeared to be over her crush on him, but the letters she was getting from Ron were bothering her, and she told Harry they all pretty much downed him and Hermione for their 'betrayal'.

She never let him read the letters saying that nothing he said was pleasant, and that she would write to her mum about all of this. Harry had to physically bite his tongue to stop from telling her that wouldn't work. Hermione seemed to know more about all of this than he did, but even she wasn't talking. Harry was half tempted to use his invisibility cloak to go get the letters, but he remembered what would happen if he tried.

"What are you thinking about?" Ginny's voice pulled him out of his mental respite.

"Nothing Ginny," he could see a grinning Tori walking up behind her. "What are you two up to today?"

"Nothing, Tori wants you to pick up a few things at Zonko's for _her_." Ginny said with a smile on her face.

"No, no I said for us. Her brother, Ron, really needs a _gift_ he won't forget." The grin on Tori's face meant she had been learning way too much from the twins.

"Do you have a list of things that you guys need, or is it just one or two things?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Oh it is a list of just a _few _things." Tori said with a smile as she handed him a coin purse and a list that would make the twins smile. "Zonko's should have all of the items listed there."

Harry looked at the list and his jaw wanted to fall open. Tori didn't want to prank Ron it appeared that she wanted to scare him to death. "Astoria, are you sure about this?"

"Uh-huh, those letters he writes are horrid." She looked over to Ginny who was glaring at her. "What it's true!"

"I will pick these things up, and Tori… never mind." He was having images of Sirius laughing as the 'prank' went off on Ronald. Of course given the fact that he might find this particular prank funny was even worse.

He stood up as the two girls started arguing with each other about the necessity of the prank, and of what Mrs. Weasley might do to them if they get caught. He walked over to Hermione who had just come down stairs. She pointed at Ginny and Tori to which he just shook his head at. As they left the common room Harry heard a crashing sound behind them, and could only smile as Neville apologized to Alicia for destroying her Ancient Runes project. As they made their way to breakfast the three talked about what they were going to do, and after some ribbing from Neville about what he and Daphne would be doing they took their usual seats at Gryffindor table. A few minutes later they were joined by Daphne, Tracey and Susan.

Daphne leaned down giving Harry a chaste kiss on the lips. "What's the parchment for Harry?"

Harry let out sigh. "Our favorite little prankster has something planned for the Weasel that entails all of the things on this list." He waved the parchment around a little.

Daphne took the list from his hand and started reading it. "What on Earth could she need fake spiders for?"

"Ronald is terrified of the things." Hermione said with a sigh. "Harry I can't believe you are going to get those things."

"I am not about to go back on my word Hermione, and besides she is like our little sister." He gestured between the members of the group.

"She really is MY little sister Harry, but if you guys want to take her off my hands I don't mind." Daphne said smiling.

"Daphne Anna," Tori started to say something, but she was quickly silenced by Daphne's hand.

"Don't you even think about it short cake." Daphne was almost glaring at her sister. When Tori held up her hands Daphne let her go. The smile on her face caused the twins to start laughing. "Come on Harry if you want to get good seats at the Three Broomsticks you need to eat fast."

"Hey who do you think I am Ronald Weasley?" Harry asked sarcastically, causing all but Hermione to start laughing.

* * *

><p>Ron was pacing back and forth in his room trying to figure out a way to go to both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley without his mum knowing about it. The flying car was out, his family brooms would take forever, and at the moment she was lording over him as of late. It had been over a month since he was imprisoned here at his own home because of the 'magical' binding of Potter to that slag Greengrass.<p>

He could hear a commotion going on down stairs. Figuring it was his mum calling him down for more Transfiguration lessons he stalked off down stairs. Once down there he could hear his mum yelling at someone in the kitchen. Sticking his head in to see what was going on, and who his mum was unloading on now. It was the same dark haired man from the day he was pulled out of school. The papers said it was Sirius Black, but Ron had his doubts. There is no way a follower of He-who-must-not-be-named to be so jovial about getting yelled at by his mum.

He shook himself out of this stupor and made his way back upstairs and grabbed his letter to Malfoy senior, and some money he stashed away then made for the floo, after checking to see if his mum was still laying into Black; he flooed out to Diagon Alley. Once there he made for the Owlery and sent off the letter to Malfoy. After that he went to Flourish and Blotts the last place his mum would ever consider looking for him, and this was also were he would be meeting Mr. 'Mortis'. As he wondered the store he found himself looking at the Curses section of the store. Sure these books were benign compared to what could be bought in Knockturn Alley, but it was still nice to read the curses and envision it happening to Potter, Longbottom, Granger, and Greengrass.

"A bit beneath you don't you think Mr. Weasley?" a voice spoke from behind him.

Turning around Ron found Mr. Malfoy standing behind him. "Not anymore sir. I once had a friend in Potter, but now he seems to think he is too 'good' for me."

"That is the price of fame Mr. Weasley, and it is one I can teach you to exploit." The smile on the man's face was frightening, but understandable. Potter had cheated the man out of a good marriage contract. "Let us go somewhere less conspicuous shall we?"

"Of course Mr. Malfoy," with that they left Flourish and Blotts.

As they left Ron noticed people looking at him with suspicious looks. Most of them were just glaring at him, and he could feel their hatred of him. He didn't know why they were glaring at him, but he thought it was because of Mr. Malfoy, and while that was possibly it he couldn't knock out the idea that the shop keepers had told people about his 'mistreatment' of the 'Boy-who-lived'. He wouldn't put it past Fortescue to tell everyone that came through his door that Ronald Weasley had interfered with Harry Potter's love life. That bastard really needed to mind his own business. So what if the little pricks parents were killed and he somehow survived the Killing Curse. What did that really mean in the grand scheme of things? Nothing that's what and he Ronald Weasley was a far better man than Potter anyway.

When he looked around he noticed that he was now in Knockturn Alley, and Mr. Malfoy was walking toward Borgin and Burkes. He had always dreamed of coming here and busting Malfoy in some illegal act, and now he was walking into said store with the man in question to do God knows what. However now he was considering this place a way of becoming as famous as Harry bloody Potter if not more so. Once inside he noticed all sorts of items that were borderline illegal, and others that his father and mother would run in fear of. At first glance he noticed a cloak of suffocation; a severed human hand that acted as a doorknob; several potions that could be poisonous, and what appeared to be a trapped human soul.

"Ah it is good to see you Mr. Malfoy, and I assume this is the young man you spoke of?" the man behind the counter asked.

"Yes Borgin it is, and he and I need a room safe from prying eyes." Mr. Malfoy asked.

"Of course sir, anything for a loyal customer," Borgin said with a crooked smile.

They were taken up to the second floor, and into a secluded room, and in the middle of the room was a cauldron that looked like it had not been used in a long time. "Well Ronald, may I call you Ronald?"

"Of course you can Mr. Malfoy."

"Please just Lucius." Ron nodded. "Ronald as you can no doubt piece together Mr. Borgin and I are old acquaintances, among other things."

"He was a Death Eater." Ronald said point blank.

"No, but he did support our cause. Mr. Borgin and I work together to bring down people like Mr. Potter, and the illustrious headmaster of your former school." Ronald growled at the mention of Hogwarts. "Yes I have heard you were pulled out, and I was just wondering if that was the first time you went against Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, the little ponce seemed to think that the Ice Queen of Slytherin was not bewitching him." Ron spat this out.

"Easy there Ronald it is not me you are angry at. You see it is people like your father that _make _Mr. Potter more than he actually is." This peaked Ron's interest. "I will see what I can do about getting you back into Hogwarts, and in return you can help expose Harry Potter for the weakling that he is."

Ron smiled. "What would you have me do?"

* * *

><p>The streets of Hogsmeade were crowded but Daphne didn't mind. Okay maybe she was bothered just a little bit by all the staring that she was getting by walking hand in hand with her boyfriend. It was normally bad enough that the boys couldn't keep their eyes off her, but now the girls were staring at her as well. Maybe not for lewd and lascivious reasons but their intent couldn't have been a pleasant one.<p>

"What's wrong Daphne?" Harry asked before kissing her lightly on the lips.

"I am getting stared at, and I mean a lot more than normal." She leaned into him.

"Ignore them, I always do." She stared up at him. "Had I known you were staring at me back then Ron would have made things difficult."

"Would you have stayed friends with him if we started dating?" She was looking at him with pain flowing in her eyes. He didn't miss this apparently.

"No, and I am not just saying that. If he couldn't accept who I wanted to be with, then that would have ended our friendship." He leaned down and kissed her passionately. Daphne felt as if she was melting into his arms. "Now let's go the others are waiting for us." Harry said after he broke the kiss. All she could do was nod in response as he led her to the Three Broomsticks.

The pub was as crowded as the alley, but the noise was more subdued. The clanking of mugs and laughter of the pubs inhabitants was a welcome change to the cold wind, and unrelenting stares that were outside. She could see Neville waving his arm in the air trying to get their attention. As they walked closer to the assembled group Daphne could see the shite eating grin plastered on the face of her oldest friend.

"Okay Harry what _didn't _you do to Daphne? Ouch." Daphne bit back a laugh as Susan lightly smacked Tracey on the arm. "I meant _nothing _by that."

"Sure Tracey." Harry said smiling as he pulled out a chair for Daphne. "So what is everyone planning on doing for holidays?"

"Well we will be over visiting you on Christmas Day, and then _you_; Hermione; and Neville will be joining us on Boxing Day. As for New Year's it's up in the air." Daphne elbowed him lightly in the ribs. "How could you forget this?"

"I didn't, I was just checking to see if my facts were right." He leaned over to try kissing her but Daphne moved backwards. "What did I do now?"

"Nothing, I just needed to stretch." Daphne smiled coyly at him. "Besides you already kissed me silly outside." She leaned over a pecked Harry on the cheek.

"What will it be for you two love birds?" Madam Rosmertta asked.

"Butterbeer," the two of them said as one.

"They think alike," Fred said.

"They have started finishing each other's sentences." George continued.

"They must be in love." They finished together.

"Here are the notes you asked for Harry." George handed over what appeared to be a stack of blank parchment before the twins walked away.

As Madame Rosmertta came back with their drinks the group of friends started talking about the things they had planned for the day, and the week ahead. Tracey and Susan were going to Honeydukes, while Neville was going to buy some much needed supplies, and Hermione was going to look at the Shrieking Shack with Parvati and Lavender Brown. Harry was planning on taking Daphne to Honeydukes then they would head to Zonko's to pick up the items for Tori and a few for himself. If he was going to be a Marauder he needed to start 'practicing' the art of pranking people. He couldn't really be like his dad and Sirius and prank a single person so badly they went insane, but who's to say Draco Malfoy wasn't already insane?

After eating a light lunch at the Three Broomsticks the group split off into their different groups. As Harry entered Honeydukes his mind drifted to thoughts of the last time he was here. He had used the map and snuck out of the school, and surprised his friends. They were ecstatic to see him, but Hermione as usual wanted him to turn in the map, and Ron was… well Ron. After they had picked up some chocolate the two of them wondered over to Zonko's to pick up the things for Tori's prank on Ronald. This store was a little 'less' crowded than Honeydukes, but it was still packed. Tori's list included twenty-five animated mini-spider packs, twelve packs of stink pellets, and two spider fireworks. Harry shook his head as he went to pay for these things first. Daphne was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, and all Harry could tell her was 'later' as he didn't know Tori's intentions, but he had a good idea of what it was. Harry himself picked up a few stink pellets as an early Christmas 'gift' for Sirius.

As they left Zonko's Daphne asked "Are you sure about this love?"

"Not really, but you know your sister, and when she gets an idea in her head come hell or high water it will happen."

Daphne's response was a simple nod, and what could only be described as a twisted grin. They both made their way to the meeting point form the last Hogsmeade weekend. Once they arrived at the Shack Harry saw Neville valiantly trying to scare off Malfoy and company. Harry handed over the bags to Daphne and quickly put on his invisibility cloak. For the second time in his life he played on the 'haunted' house propaganda to terrorize Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle once again. It didn't help the three putts that Daphne was pointing in the complete different direction then where he was standing. After his third throw Draco pointed to a spot just behind Daphne before he got hit in the face by the fourth ball of slime.

Once the three psychopaths ran off Harry cast a quick cleaning charm on his hand before sneaking over and poking Neville in his side, and he had to bite back a laugh as his friend squeaked. Hermione called him out while laughing hysterically. Once his cloak was off Neville light punched him in the shoulder. Tracey had fallen to one knee and was holding her sides because she was laughing so hard. While Susan had an ear to ear smile and was shaking her head.

"Okay Sir Jokester how are we going to get this stuff into the castle?" Daphne asked as she held up the Zonko's bags.

"I was thinking of using a friend of mine." Harry said with a smile.

Daphne looked over at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow. "And who would this friend be?"

"DOBBY," as soon as those words left Harry's mouth the air popped with the arrival of a house-elf.

"The great Harry Potter calls for Dobby. How can Dobby help the great Harry Potter?" The elf could not seem to stop bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Harry took the bags from Zonko's and handed it to Dobby. "Could you put these in my trunk back at the castle Dobby?"

"Of course Harry Potter sir." With that Dobby took the bags and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Daphne was standing there slack jawed. In all the stories she heard of people sneaking stuff past Filch not once had she heard of a student using their house elf to do so. The look on Hermione's face was priceless. She looked simultaneously amused and angry.

"Harry did you just use a school elf to sneak contraband into the school?" Hermione asked with her arms crossed, and an older sibling like gaze on the de facto leader of the group.

"Yes, and Hermione I think you might want to ask those in our group who have house elves about them. I know not every family treats them right, but they like what they do." Harry said this calmly. "Besides we need to talk about our little extracurricular activity."

Those unaware of what was going on looked at Harry with raised eyebrows. Harry just told them it was Marauder business. As the group discussed their alternate forms Harry could tell Neville and Susan were tempted, but even after repeated prodding from Harry and Tracy all they managed to do was get hexed twice by Susan, and make Neville nearly blush to death. After the laughter stopped, Hermione informed them that she had found a book in the library that said meditation would help with discovering your animagus form. She seemed a little downtrodden about this though, and when asked why she said that they would just have to wait and see. Daphne thought it probably had something to do with her animal form. She just hoped it was nothing horrid like a chicken or something.

The sound of someone trudging through the snow made everyone look away from the Shack. When Daphne turned to see who it was she was stunned to see the Weasel walking towards them, and the look on his face screamed malice. Daphne felt Harry tense in her arms. She looked at her boyfriend and the look on his face was frightening. There were times that she didn't believe him about the time travel business, but now standing there, looking at him staring down Weasel King she could see the war hardened look upon his face. She didn't know everything that he had seen, but she wanted to talk to him about it before it destroyed him from the inside.

As Weasley drew closer Daphne could feel a pulse flow between her and Harry. She looked down at her hands and saw this light glow surround her hand and Harry's own hand. It was almost mother-of-pearl in color. It also seemed to be fighting off the bitter cold of winter.

"So it looks like everyone is right about you and this… thing Potter." Weasley said this with so much venom Daphne thought his teeth might turn green.

"I would back off Weasley." Tracey said with stern determination behind her voice.

"Stuff it Davis, and nice whore to pick up Bones I bet your aunt is proud of that." There was a collective intake of air at that comment. "What does she do for you anyway? Oh, wait let me guess it has something to do with a certain lower region of your body." There was this obscene smile on the boy's face as he said this.

At that point Daphne felt Harry's arms unwrap from around her. The next thing she knew, Ronald Weasley was lying on the ground.

"If you ever say such a thing about my friends again Weasel King I swear I will hurt you." Harry turned back to his friends. "Come on guys lets go back to the castle."

* * *

><p>Harry and the gang were seated in the last compartment of the train. The two couples were sitting side by side with Hermione and Neville sitting across from them. They were talking about everything and nothing in particular. The idea of the Weasleys coming over to his and Sirius new home in London made everyone a bit uneasy. It was announced to them the day before term ended. Mrs. Weasley apparently wanted to ensure that Harry was not pranked senseless during the Christmas Hols according to the twins.<p>

A gentle knocking on the door brought Harry back to the here and now. Standing outside the compartment was Ginny with a very pensive look on her face. She asked to speak to Harry for a moment. Harry told Daphne he would be right back and kissed her on the cheek before leaving the compartment.

Once out in the corridor Harry turned to Ginny. "What's wrong Ginny?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry Harry." She said this while looking down at the ground.

"Sorry for what?"

"I was planning on giving you a love potion starting next year…"

Harry held up his hand at this point. "Ginny it doesn't matter what you were going to do. So long as you don't do it we will still be friends."

"I know, and I won't because I like living more then I desire to be your girlfriend." Ginny had a small smile on her face at this point. "It's funny I thought I would be soul bonded to you ya' know?"

"No I didn't, but Ginny don't worry I am sure there is someone out there for you. Who knows maybe it's not even a guy." Harry was playing off the rumor about her liking Tori as more than a friend.

Ginny hit him on the shoulder "Not you too Harry!"

"You know I am kidding right?" Harry said with a half-smile.

"Of course, if you weren't, I would have placed the bat-bogey hex on you." She gently hugged a stunned Harry. "See you at Christmas Harry."

As Harry walked back into compartment he noticed Daphne looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "She wanted to apologize for something she has not done, and thankfully will not be doing."

"You mean that potion thing?" Tracey asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes, and as she put it 'I like living more than I desire to your girlfriend'. So yeah, there's that problem taken care of." Harry sat down next to Daphne once more.

"So why did she hit you?" Hermione asked with a smile on her face.

"I said something that has been floating around, and out of love for my own life I am stopping now." Harry was smiling at a scowling Daphne.

"Good call mister." His girlfriend swatted him on the shoulder. "So has Sirius told you when we will be doing the animagus thing?"

"Yes New Year's Eve."

With that conversation died down. The rest of the train ride was mostly quiet with the occasional remarks for those with significant others to 'get a room' by Neville or passersby. Fred and George teased the new Marauders a little, but for the most part were pushing the skiving packets they were working on. Like last time Hermione scolded them for it, but after Harry assured her they were fine she backed off… kind of.

Once at the station for the first time in his life (or was that eight lives) Harry saw his godfather standing there waiting for him. Harry could hear some giggling off to his left and figured that whatever he looked like caused a mass of giggle fits from the girls in the compartment. Looking over at his girlfriend Harry found her covering her mouth, and trying to suppress her laughter. As everyone left the train they received a lot of looks because of the ragtag group of Slytherins, Gryffindors, and one Hufflepuff. Harry kissed Daphne on last time and he promised to keep in touch until they saw each other again. This brought about laughter from their friends and family seeing as they would see each other again tomorrow.

As they left the station Harry asked "Please tell me we are not staying in your mother's house?"

"We are not staying in my mother's house." He looked over at his dogfather who had this misguided smile on his face. "We are staying in the yard of her house."

"You've got to be kidding me." Harry said in exasperation.

"I am, but the look on your face was as they say: priceless." He just glared a Sirius who broke out into his barking laugh. "You're going to love the place Harry, and from what I hear your beloved does not live far off."

"Are you trying to get me into trouble?" Harry looked at his godfather with a lopsided smile.

"No I figure you can do that all on your own." Sirius patted Harry on his back. "Now come on lets go to the car and put your things in the boot."

Once outside the station Harry's eyes landed a jet black Jaguar that looked more like a sports car then a family car. One look at the old reprobate caused him to smile. The trip to his new home wasn't that long. The house was a little south of Notting Hill. Sirius said he had found the place rather refreshing after all those years in Azkaban, and it was loads better than staying in his mum's old place. He was keeping 12 Grimmauld Place for the Order, but he had no desire to live there. He also said they would be going to get him some new clothes tomorrow, and this was something Harry readily agreed to.

As the car came to a stop Sirius pointed to a white stone segment of the houses. As Harry got out of the car he was wondering if Sirius had chosen this house because of the dichotomy of its coloring with his family name, or simply to put distance between himself and the dismal neighborhood of his family home. The inside of the house seemed to be under some minor enlarging spell as the rooms took up more room than the outside let on. Sirius had even moved the family tree portion of Grimmauld Place, and readjusted it to fit the Black Family's new standard. He had fixed the picture of himself and Andromeda Tonks on the family tree, and burned out the pictures of Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco; along with the picture of his own mother. The place was affixed with the latest muggle amenities, and Sirius asked Harry if he would explain a few of these things later. Harry said that he would try, but he also said that the best person to ask about most of these things was Hermione. The oddest thing that Harry noticed was that Kreature was at the house, and not making any snide comments about his blood status or muggles. Harry smiled at this change, and proceeded upstairs to his new room. What he found there made him simultaneously slightly angry and laugh hysterically.

The room was split into two parts one covered in a light blue color, and the other side was a bright vibrant pink. Above the bed in the pink area of the room was a sign that read 'his' and the opposite sign was above the bed in the blue zone of the room.

"Do you like?" he heard from behind him.

"You are sadistic."

"I know."

* * *

><p>Ronald was sitting there with the rest of his 'family' unwrapping Christmas gifts, and like always his mother made them sweaters and Ron's was horrendous. He had also received a gift in pink wrapping paper that said to open alone. He didn't recognize the hand writing, but figured it was from a secret admirer if the soft pink lips on the note were any indication. He took the small package up to his room to open it in private to avoid the ridicule he would receive from the twins. Once he was up stairs he was almost certain that the twins had convinced someone to kiss the note and send this to him because they didn't tease him about the stupid thing. He placed the box on his bedside stand and tossed the sweater into the corner of the room. He fell down on his bed contemplating when the others would go off to visit Potty Boy. He knew it had to be before eight this evening because that was when the family was having their traditional family meal, so he had a very narrow window of time to report his latest findings on his father's latest tinkering with muggle devices to Lucius.<p>

A rattling sound from his bed side table brought his attention back to the stupid box. It was jumping around on the stand. As he reached for it the thing exploded in a cloud of green smoke. He made his way over to his window, and after the smoke had cleared out he felt something crawling all over him. Looking down he found his hands were this weird blue color, and his clothes were this odd blue color. Upon closer inspection he discovered they were small spiders! He tried to wipe them off his clothes, but that proved useless. This left him no choice but to get rid of his outer garments, and at that point he remembered his wand was still on the night stand. As he went to get the instrument of his salvation the biggest tarantula he had ever seen emerged from the box thus blocking him from the safety magic could provide. The spider advanced on him leaving him with two choices. The first was for him to run down the stairs, and the second option was for him to leaping out the window to his death. He chose to the less lethal of the two options. As he made his way down the stairs he was certain the twins were behind this one because they were laughing hysterically even before he arrived. Before he could yell at them however the spider jumped in front of him. He barely had time to realize that his family had screamed when the spider jumped in front of him. He chose to run outside to escape it, and the only thing that caused him to look back towards the house was the sound of two very large bangs. Two blue streaks leaped out of his window and streaked down towards him before exploding first into the shape of two very large spiders, and then into the words "Marry Christmas Weasley Family!"

As Ron walked back into house he gave the twins the two fingered salute, and trudged up the stairs as his mother called to him to get back there this instant. He grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom slamming the door in his mother's face. She opened the door and started yelling at him about his 'foul language', and all he did was point to his blue hands and turned on the shower. She told him this was not over, and shut the door. He took one look in the mirror and saw that his entire body had been turned blue, and his hair was this weird green color. After removing the last of his clothes he discovered that no part of him was spared from this atrocious prank. It took forty minutes for him to get the dye off of his skin, but the hair color would not go away.

After getting dressed he went back downstairs to demand answer about the change in his hair from the twins, but there was no one there, and after searching he only found a note saying that the rest of the family would be back at eight. He immediately went up to his room and started packing everything he owned. Once all of his clothes were packed he grabbed his notes one his father's latest 'experiment', and called Grimie the Malfoy house-elf.

"Master Ronald calls on Grimie?" the female elf asked.

"Yes is Lucius available to accept me as a visitor at the moment?"

"Oh yes Master Ron, but are you expecting to stay?" the elf was looking at his luggage.

"No, I am planning on staying with an aunt of mine from this point on." He picked up his trunk. "Please tell Lucius I am on my way."

"As Master Ron requests." The elf curtsied before disappearing in cloud of smoke.

Ron walked over to the floo, and as he made his way to the Malfoy estate he contemplated where he would stay. He knew that he had a distant cousin that might take him in simply because he no longer followed the Weasley family doctrine of 'muggles deserve protection'. He couldn't think of the man's name, but he knew he had a daughter named Mafalda. Once he stopped spinning he opened his eyes and the sight that lay before him took his breath away. The entire hall was covered in marble, and the emblazoned emblem of the Slytherin house graced the back wall. Lucius, his wife, and Draco were there waiting for him.

"My father tells me you've chosen to join the right side of the coming fight Weasley." Draco said this with almost snide satisfaction.

"I have." He then walked over to Lucius and handed him his notes. "I am not intending to stay here Lucius, and if my _father_ has relatives that accept people like you and I, then perhaps I should contact him. Otherwise I will file for drifter student status, and further dampen my father's name."

"Did your brothers do this to you?" Lucius gestured to his hair. He shook his head in agreement. Lucius took the notes from him. "Thank you Ronald, but I have a better idea, and it would count as your first step down the stronger road of _forbidden _magic."

"What would you have me do?" Ronald asked with a smile on his face.

"First we would need a few drops of your blood…"

* * *

><p>Harry and his group of friends were nearly curled up on the ground after watching the twins' memories of the 'gift' given to Ronald, and the memory of Tori planning the prank in Sirius' Pensieve. Daphne's father was there with them, and he was wiping tears from his eyes as he patted his youngest child on the back.<p>

"We won't tell your mother about this particular prank Tori." Kyle said as looked over at Sirius and Remus who were chatting off in the corner. "What are you two up to?"

Sirius looked over to the older man. "Nothing, but Remus and I have decided on what to call you from this day forward Tori."

"Oh and that would be?" Tori asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Webs," the two remaining Marauders said in unison.

"Does this make me a Marauder?" Tori asked with her hands clasped tightly together.

"A tentative Marauder," Sirius put a hand on her shoulder when she looked crest fallen. "Do not worry Webs, this is only because you aren't learned in magic enough just _yet_, but in time, yes you will become a full member of the Brotherhood." At this Tori once again smiled broadly.

"Are you two corrupting my daughter?" the voice of Daphne's mother filled the room. Harry turned to look at the woman. She had Tori's sandy blonde hair, but her eyes were cerulean blue. She had a very athletic build and Harry wondered if she ever played quidditch in her youth.

"Now Alice, why would you think such a thing," Sirius asked this with an ear to ear grin on his face.

"There are three reasons. One your track record, two my daughter's tendency of pranking her older sisters, and three you and Remus were over there in the corner whispering to one another." She had her hands on her hips looking. "Does the defense wish to provide a counter argument?"

"Not really." Sirius continued to smile as Janet glared at him.

Harry had to think quickly about the memories in the Pensieve as he was the closest to it. He used the pretense of showing everyone the Dursleys first meeting Hagrid as a means to clear the device of incriminating information. His action however didn't work out as smoothly as he intended.

"Harry James Potter, isn't that a bit too convenient of a thing to say/do at this moment?" Alice asked.

"Not really I was just going to show everyone my first quidditch match." He said this with a smile plastered on his face.

"Unlikely, you are not a braggart like your father." Janet said patting him on the shoulder. "Besides, lunch is ready."

"That and you said two different things just now." Kyle said patting him on the back. "When dealing with a solicitor you need to keep you story straight." The group laughed as the left Harry standing there in a quandary for a few seconds.

The lunch was spectacular. It wasn't the food that Harry found mind blowing it was the company. Tori and the twins kept everyone laughing, while Sirius and Kyle kept Harry and Daphne blushing with constant remarks about how close the two were sitting. Harry thought Kyle's reasoning was solely based on the principal of a father protecting his daughter. Sirius on the other hand was just looking for a reason to make the two go crimson. At least that was his opinion for all he knew the reasoning could be flipped. The one thing he was glad was not happening was the needless waist of food from the human waste bin that was Ronald Weasley.

After dinner presents were exchanged, and like last time Sirius had gotten him the Firebolt. In private he had asked if this had happened last time, and he told him the whole story on the 'anonymous' gift its fall out. He told Sirius not to hold it against Hermione because at the time none of them knew the truth about him, and much less about the rat. After the gifts had been given everyone broke off into their own little groups. Harry and Daphne went off to talk in the den. They talked about school at first, but in the end the conversation turned to the event that was coming in a week.

"So have you been doing the meditation Hermione and I told you about?" Daphne asked as rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yes, but the only thing I keep seeing is the sky. I hope I am not a bug or something." Harry said with an exasperated sigh.

"You won't be your too courageous for that, and besides at least you're not me. My animal seems to live just about anywhere. The only place I have not seen is the frozen tundra of the North Pole." Daphne tightened her grip on Harry's waist. "You three at least have some continuity in your meditation. Hermione sees either a mangrove forest or the sandy shore of a river, Tracey sees what could only be the African savannah, and you keep seeing the wild blue yonder. I see everything and nothing."

"Take it easy love we figure this all out in a week." Harry kissed her lightly on the head.

"You can do better than that." Daphne said looking up at him.

"I don't want your dad to hang me ya' know."

"He won't and you know it." Daphne was leaning in closer to him. "Now shut up, and kiss me."

The kiss started out tender and sweet, but grew in its intensity and passion. Harry kept his hands moving across her back, and occasionally to the sides of her waist. Ginny at the point of his hands touching her waist would usually break the kiss and tell him to 'cease the wandering of his hands', but Daphne didn't seem to care. Harry was not so brazen as to try and go further than he already had though he had to admit the temptation was there.

"Okay you two I think it is time to stop before you find yourselves sans clothing." Sirius said with a smile.

That was what stopped the duo from snogging, but what followed made Harry's heart nearly stop.

"Are you trying to get your godson into trouble Sirius Black?" The sound of Kyle's voice made Harry look toward the entryway to the room slowly. "Hi there, so are you two done snogging like there's no tomorrow?"

Everyone that had been invited over was standing there looking at the couple. Tracey, Susan, Tori, and Ginny were snickering behind their hands. The twins were outright laughing while their mother was trying to glare at them, but the smile on her face made that attempt at intimidation fail. The rest of the visitors were either smiling or like the twins laughing maniacally.

"How long were you guys standing there?" Daphne asked exasperatedly.

"Oh I would say twenty minutes." Susan said with a smile on her face.

"Oh God…" the two of them said together.

After the laughter stopped the guest started to leave in small groups. Once everyone left Sirius told him about Mr. Weasley's plan of going to the Quidditch World Cup, and he demanded that Harry not tell him weather this would be successful or not because he didn't want to jinx it. He went on to say that he was planning on taking Madam Rosmertta with them to the tournament. Harry agreed to keep his mouth shut about the tournament, but for the following week he mercilessly teased Sirius and Janet until they brought up the 'kissing incident' during Christmas Eve.

On Friday Harry received a letter from Hermione saying she would be showing up tomorrow at noon, and staying through the weekend. She said she would be taking the Knight Bus, and just reading those words made Harry feel a little queasy. At precisely twelve o'clock Friday afternoon Hermione showed up at the Black Haven, Sirius originally wanted to call it the Dog Pad but Janet put her foot down stating she would not have her employees hear her call that out at the end of the day. By her slightly green complexion Harry guessed she did not particularly like the Knight Bus. An hour latter Daphne, Tracey, and Susan showed up, and the group was taken to Sirius' study. There were about twelve vials of a thick grey potion sitting on the desk, and the blue smoke coming out of them made Harry's stomach turn just a touch.

"Now before we start I want to make sure this is everyone that was going to learn how to be an animagus." Sirius asked looking at the group of teens.

"Yes it is." Tracey said with a smile on her face. "Susan wanted to take a little walk down the prankster's road."

"Is that so Ms. Bones?" Sirius asked with a slight smirk. Susan just nodded her head in agreement. "Excellent! Now the first thing you need take out your wands, and ladies before I say this next part I want you to know I am not being perverted, crass, or in any way lewd." All four of the girls glared at him. "What you need to do is take your wand into a high arcing manner and tap it LIGHTLY to the center of your chest. I would like you to practice this a few times before we continue." The teens did the motion a few times before he went on. "The incantation you need to use is: Animalis. Practice this a while."

All five of the friends practiced saying the incantation multiple times. Hermione seemed to have little trouble with the pronunciation. With everyone else being almost equals in its pronunciation.

"All right now it's time to cast the spell. On three: one, two, and three." Sirius said with a smile on his face.

The group of friends sounded off as one "Animalis!"

* * *

><p>Daphne found herself in some disserted alley. The smell of sewage and the nearby garbage can permeated the air. She knew that the spell just primed the body for the transformation the potion would induce, but what creature on earth would find this kind of place comfortable to live in besides a rat? She prayed with all her might that that was not the case. The clanking sound of a can falling to the ground from the overflowing garbage can grabbed her attention. Sitting there on a windowsill was black cat with really long fur. It began to lick its left paw.<p>

"Okay the books said commit what I see of the animal to memory, and visualize myself turning into to it, and returning to my normal form. This shouldn't be too hard. Why rat boy failed at this I will never know."

* * *

><p>Harry found himself in the transfiguration courtyard during what looked to be the dead of winter. He began looking around for some kind of sign that his animal was something other than a really demented insect. The sudden sound of moving air behind him mad Harry duck for cover; a few seconds later he felt this sharp pain in his right shoulder. Looking to his right Harry's eyes landed on the fast animal on the planet: the peregrine falcon. Harry held up his right arm, and the predatory bird leapt from his should to his forearm. Once it turned to look at him it nipped at his nose.<p>

"I knew I loved flying fast for a reason." He then began studying every detail of the bird.

* * *

><p>Hermione founder herself sitting on the root of a mangrove tree. She had been wondering from tree to tree looking for any kind of animal, but alas she had found none. She was beginning to wonder if she even had an animal when she felt something brush up against her legs. Looking down she could see a long slender serpent moving at the base of the tree. She tentatively reached down and grabbed the snake, and gently lifted it up. Instead of finding a rodent hunting viper Hermione held in her hands the king of all poisonous snakes, at least in her opinion: the King Cobra. She let the animal wrap around her as she only needed to study it upper region the lower half would be easy to envision.<p>

"Daphne and Harry are going freak. I wonder if I can speak parseltongue after this?" the snake nodded in agreement, and Hermione just smiled. Perhaps after all this nonsense with Voldemort was over with she could disprove all of this 'parseltongue is evil' business.

* * *

><p>Susan was standing in a dense forest. The quiet of this place frightened her. Even the bugs were silent here, and that was not normal. The humidity was horrendous, and it felt like she was being baked alive. She didn't know how she let her girlfriend talk her into this nonsense. If her aunt found out this whole rebellious teenager experiment of hers would be over, and her relationship with Tracey would be under more scrutiny for 'inappropriate behaviour'. Really was her private time with Tracey anyone else's business?<p>

The sudden snapping of what sounded like a branch caused her to turn around. A large black mass landed in front of her, and she subconsciously backed away. When she was sure it wasn't going to lunge at her she began to slowly approach the beast. She knew that it was a solidly black jaguar. She reached out with her hand and its initial reaction was to lick the palm of her hand. She jumped a little, and she could swear that the creature was smiling at her.

"Tracey is going to either love this, or faint."

* * *

><p>Tracey did not have to look far to find her animal form. Well to be honest she had kind of guessed what it was a few weeks back when she had witnessed it kill a cape buffalo. The lioness was just lounging in the shade of a tree at the moment acting like she didn't even care that Tracey even existed. Tracey gently flicked its ear.<p>

"Do you even know I'm here?" the lioness just looked over at her indignantly and nodded.

* * *

><p>Sirius watched as the five teens started to smile. Hermione in his opinion was smiling maniacally. Whither the young witch would admit to this or not is another matter. Once there eyes opened he handed them each a vial of Animalis Formare.<p>

"Now I don't want all of you to drink this at the same time. The last thing we need to happen is for there to be a wild free for all." He closed his eyes remembering the havoc he and James created the first night of their fourth year. The two of them chased the rat around the school for hours. "Now remember after you drink the potion you have to focus as hard as you can on the animal you met after casting the spell." All five teens nodded in agreement.

"I'll go first." Daphne said with a sigh. "Here goes nothing."

Daphne down the potion in one shot, and her face contorted at the taste. From what Sirius could remember about the potion it tasted like sweaty socks. Everyone chuckled a little at the shrinking of Daphne's hands. In a matter of minutes she had become an average sized black cat with long black fur starting at the base of her ears and going to her front shoulder blades. "Remember you have to turn back quickly." Sirius said, and Daphne nodded and began to return to normal. It took a few minutes, but she eventually did it.

"Well that was pleasant." Daphne shivered at the feeling of her hair getting longer on her arms, legs, and back. She looked over her shoulder and was pleased to see the tail had gone away as she had thought she might forget about that blasted thing. "So who's next?"

"Me!" Susan and Tracey said as one.

"Why not do alphabetically you two?" Sirius asked with a smirk on his face.

"No way Harry would go before either of us." Tracey said with a smirk. "Besides I want to see if I can do this."

"Fine, fine ladies first," Sirius said this holding up his hands.

Before Sirius could stop them both girls took the potion and drank it down as quickly as possible. Just like Daphne before them their arms grew fur, but the distinct difference was the size of their paws. Susan's usually pale skin turned a deep dark black colour, and eyes took on this striking yellow colour. The tips of her ears were the only indication that she had even been a redhead. Tracey was a touch taller than Susan, and there was no question what animal had chosen her as a pure blonde lioness stood be for the group. Harry shivered when Susan yawned wide enough for him to slide his head into her mouth. 'Not messing with the jaguar' Sirius thought. A minute later both girls were back to their normal selves.

"I'll go next." Hermione said before she drank the potion slowly. Within seconds of drinking the potion she had fully transformed into a five meter long snake with piercing brown eyes. When she flattened out into her crown the group noticed a few brown scales on the underside of crown. When she turned back to her normal form Hermione began to smile at the stunned look on her friends faces. _"What were you expecting?"_

"No way," Harry and Daphne said as one.

"Oh great a third parseltongue; just what we needed." Tracey said under her breath. Hermione had an ear to ear smile on her face.

"Okay you're up next Harry." Daphne said tapping him on the shoulder.

Harry pressed his eyes closed before drinking the acrid potion. He could feel his feel his fingers start to get longer and his arms, chest, and back became unbearably itchy. He found himself shrinking down, and soon his eyesight became sharper than it had ever been before. Everyone was standing there looking at him a little slack jawed. Daphne was the first to notice the lightning bolt mark on the back of his right wing. He flapped his wings before turning back into his normal form.

"Well I believe congratulations are in order, and it is time to give you your nicknames." Sirius said between spurts of barking laughter.

"We get nicknames?" Susan asked.

"Yes it is part of being a Marauder." Sirius said while taping a finger on the bridge of his nose.

Susan's new name was Ruby for the bright red tips of her ears. Hermione's was as cliché as Sirius': Scales. She didn't seem to mind though. Daphne argued a little over her nickname, but could not come up with anything better than Lucky so the name stuck. Tracey was the hardest to name and she had to take her animagus form again for anyone to find a distinguishing feature on the lioness to derive a nickname from. Eventually Daphne found a two tan spots on her right front leg, and thus Spots was born. Harry vehemently refused to be called lightning, and took the name Talons.

"So when will your first prank take place Marauders," Sirius asked this with this demented gleam in his eyes.

"Nope I don't want this information slipping out of your very loose lips during pillow talk."

Sirius brought his clenched fist to his chest. "You wound me good sir."

"Out," Harry started pushing him out of the room. Once the door shut behind him Sirius started laughing maniacally. When he heard the floo light up he walked to greet his evening guest.

"Where is Harry?" Janet Rosmertta asked.

"In the study, he and a few friends or going over their homework before going to Hogwarts day after tomorrow." He wrapped his arms around her neck, and kissed her gently.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"I don't know." A crocked smile formed on his lips.

* * *

><p>Harry turned around to find his friends had turned back into their animagus forms, and were playing around. Tracey and Susan were roughhousing with one another while Daphne was having fun jumping over Hermione as she slithered across the floor. Harry turned into his falcon form and partook in the high jinks. It took him a while to learn how to fly without the aid of a broom, and after getting into the air staying there was a bit of a challenge due to the walls. More than once he ran face first into one, and after the third time doing so he just decided to sit on the bookshelf and wait for the right moment to land on Daphne's head. The chance came when she curled up next to Hermione. When his claws trounced her Daphne let out a shrill shriek and returned to normal form. She stood up and glared at Harry, but he could stop staring at the tail that was still swishing behind her. Everyone seemed to turn back to normal at this point with varying degrees of success. Hermione still had snake like eyes, Tracey had a paw for her left hand, and Susan was still covered in fur. Harry could feel his foot was not quite right and after taking off his shoe found himself looking at a rather large bird foot.<p>

"Okay let's try this again." Susan said. After a few more tries everyone was back to normal. "Okay I think it is the returning to normal that everyone finds so hard at first."

"Correct." Daphne and Hermione said.

"Well that's what I wanted to talk about." Walking up to Daphne he kissed her gently on the lips. "Sorry if I scared you."

"We will talk about this later." Daphne gave him the look.

"Back to what I was saying earlier," Harry looked a bit sheepish. "I think we need to work on our animagus transformation for the rest of this year before we start pranking people."

"Good idea Harry this transformation thing is harder than the books let on." Hermione said with a pensive look on her face.

"That and the potions we will need to make for our fist prank will take about eight months to make." Harry just smiled at the look of shock on all their faces.

"You already have our first prank designed?" Tracey asked.

"Yes, and it is for the Slytherin boys."

"Leave the first years and Blaise out of this." Daphne said looking with squinted eyes.

"Why shouldn't we prank Blaise?" Hermione quizzed out of nowhere.

"I know he is a bigot, but I have been working on his attitude, and his mother is the cause of most of his problems. Other than that he is a nice guy and a good friend." She looked over at Harry. "He broke Crabbe's nose after he groped my arse."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Okay we leave Blaise alone, but here is the plan…."

A/N3: I know I said this at the start, but I have a poll going, and these generally affect one of the stories I am working on or one in development so answers will be appreciated. Thank you and R&R please.


	8. Summer's Bliss

Chapter Eight: Summer's Bliss

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: _Parseltongue, flashbacks, and dreams_. Keep the reviews coming! Cheers!

A/N2: Sorry for the long delay my father was in a motorcycle wreck and I have been taking care of my gramps so massive delay. Again I am sorry. This is UnBataed.

Harry was laying there in bed wondering how Duddikens was taking to his new diet without him there to look down on. He chuckled as he ran through all of the things that had changed because of the relationship he now found himself in and the things he had already done. Some things were good, but others far less so. The New Marauders were doing there level best to get their transformations to work flawlessly. This of course had unintended consequences. It seemed that Professor McGonagall had caught on to what was going on. Thankfully she had not approached them about the issue.

Another unforeseen issue (so to speak) was the runaway Ron dilemma. The youngest Weasley had run away from home while the rest of the family was at Sirius' new place during Christmas. Harry was wracking his brain as to where the young fool could have run off to. He went with the Weasleys to checked Diagon Ally, but that was a bust. He just wondered if the boy hadn't gone to one of the 'Imperioused' Death Eaters to stay. Maybe Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle Sr. had taken him under their wing? In all honesty he was leaning towards Malfoy because shortly after Ron's disappearance he had come up with a host of allegation and evidence that he was doing illegal work on muggle devices. It was only because Sirius, Albus, and Mr. Greengrass pointed out that all of Arthur's 'trinkets' were actually harmless, and that he was not going out and selling them to muggles. Of course no one had any doubts as to who gave Malfoy those documents.

"Damn it Ron, why did you do this?" Harry said between sighs.

There was a gentle knock on his door. When Daphne opened the door Harry knew he was in for a long, but interesting day. Her bluish green eyes were sparkling with mischief. She sauntered over to the bed. Harry's eyes wondered over her figure, and he wondered how he had missed her all those years ago. Sure Cho was beautiful, but Daphne was not someone to scoff at either.

"Like what you see?" Daphne asked as she brushed a hand over her short denim skirt.

"Defiantly, but I also like the person who the body belongs to."

"And who would that be Mr. Potter?" Daphne asked with one raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip.

"You my love," Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Good answer." Daphne wrapped her arms around his neck. "So are we still going to go to those muggle moving pictures?"

"Yes and their called movies." He smiled as he leaned in closer.

"You know I am still curious about those things. They aren't talking to you right?"

"Correct, but they do tell a story." With that he closed the distance between their lips. Harry could feel Daphne's hands running through his hair as his hands wondered up and down her back. Lost in the moment neither teen heard the door open.

"Wow I am glad they are soul-bound Sirius, or I'd be mad." Kyle Greengrass' voice rang throughout the room.

"Indeed, I think we had better keep a close watch on them during the World Cup." Without even looking at him Harry could tell his dogfather was smiling like a mad man.

Both teens parted.

"Thanks for killing the mood Dad." Daphne said with a smile.

"Just doing my job sweetie," he walked over to them. "And besides what kind of father would I be if I just let my daughter's boyfriend's hands wonder where they shouldn't?"

"A poor one sir," Harry swallowed hard.

"Good answer."

"Now Kyle don't scare the poor kids you and Alice weren't the most shining examples of…" Sirius ducked a backhand from Kyle.

"Stop right there Sirius. I **DO NOT **want my children following in _my_ footsteps. Am I clear?" the man's glare turned to Sirius.

Sirius held up his hands in defeat. "Okay." He looked over at them and winked. "Anyway, we just came to tell you breakfast is ready." Sirius and Kyle started to walk out of the room. Kyle looked once more over his should before turning the corner. A second later he leaned back to see if they were still behaving themselves before truly walking away.

"Is he paranoid or something?" Harry asked.

"Or something, I think he is doing his level best to play the protective father roll even though he knows you would never hurt me." Daphne started dragging him out of the room.

"I see, so are you and the girls still dragging me to the Harrods to carry things for you?" Harry asked this with a little bit of fear in his voice.

"Oh yes, and don't even think you can weasel you way out of this mister."

"Yes my love." Harry said hanging his head.

* * *

><p>Tracey was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Susan said she would be here at 7:15 it was now 7:45. She didn't know if the motion picture had already started, or if that was just the time that Harry wanted everyone to meet up. The Floo coming to life caused her to stop in her tracks. When she looked over at the fireplace her jaw fell open. Susan was in a form fitting dress that hugged her in all the right places.<p>

"Looking good Susan, what took you guys so long?"

"Hermione's parents had a hard time finding my house." Susan said with a smile on her face as wrapped her arms around Tracey's neck.

"Hardly, Susan wanted to look perfect for your first muggle styled date, and I would say she did a good job of it." Hermione said with a smile on her face.

Susan wrapped her arms around Tracey. "I am sorry Hermione but I am taken."

"I know, but if we don't hurry I think we may have to pry the other two lovebirds off of one another." Hermione said with a smile on her face.

Tracey started laughing as she walked towards the Floo. "We might also have to make sure they are fully clothed."

Hermione shook her head violently. "Please Tracey I don't need that image stuck in my head."

The other girls started to laugh as she Flooed over to Harry's new home.

* * *

><p>Daphne was sitting next to her boyfriend wondering how in the hell he put up with Sirius' constant pranks. At the moment she guessed you just get used to it, or get even. The man seemed to stay clear of pranking her mum for some unknown reason, although it was funny to see Sirius hiding off in a corner when her mum stepped out of the Floo. The sound of the Floo coming to life again brought Daphne out of her thoughts. Looking off to her right she saw Hermione walking into the room. Once the other two arrived she wondered how long before the other two found a spare bedroom, or broom closet. Susan's dress was showing off her assets quiet well, and by the look on Tracey's face she was defiantly distracted.<p>

"Yeah guys what movie are we going to see?" Susan asked.

"I don't know I was thinking Forest Gump. It sounds like a funny movie, and all of the reviews say it is a brilliant piece of work." Harry said looking at the newspaper.

"Isn't that a comedy?" Daphne asked.

"They say it is a mix of comedy, romance, and drama." Harry said setting the paper aside. "Sounds like it could be fun to watch."

"Harry that could be said for just about any movie," Hermione said rolling her eyes. "Besides I hear it has a brilliant message of hope."

"The article said that as well, so are we ready to go?" Harry asked.

"Is that all that is on?" Hermione asked.

"No, but I think it is the only one you girls would want to see the rest seem like movies Dudley would love to see, and I doubt you guys want to see that." Harry said with a smile on his face.

"I think he just wants to be in a semi dark room with his girl friend." Susan said. Daphne could feel her cheeks heat up at this comment. "Oh look she's blushing."

Daphne picked up her napkin and threw it at Susan. "Don't give him ideas! I just received the Talk form my mum."

"And I got it from Sirius. Honestly that man has no tact." Daphne looked at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow. "He did it with Janet there."

"Oh dear God, at least my mum gave it to me alone." Susan said. "Hell she did it again when she found out I prefer women over men."

"She did?" Harry asked. Susan nodded. "Sucks to be you," Harry had to duck the Daily Prophet that was thrown at him.

"Come on lets go before they pick up the kitchen sink." Tracey said looking over at Hermione.

"That's your girlfriend." Hermione said over her shoulder as she made her way to the front door.

They all made their way through downtown London to large building with a bunch of muggles crowded around the entrance. Hermione told them this was normal for a movie theater. Once at the front of the line Harry and Hermione used small slips of parchment to pay for things. If the outside was a crowed the mass of people on the inside could only be described one word: mob. They were lining up alongside a counter ordering a myriad of sweets that she had never seen before. Daphne was surprised at the amount of snacks available to them in the muggle world. Hermione's were called sugar free she swore these were better, but Daphne had her doubts. Once inside the theater Daphne tried some of the popcorn, and thought she had died and gone to heaven. In the magical world this would have been decked out with all kinds of fantastical flavors, but here the muggles kept it simple: salt and butter. It was addictive.

When the movie started the two magically raised members of the group jumped at the volume of the movie. Daphne asked if these 'actors' were giants, and was surprised to find that it was just the result of projector (whatever that was) being so far away from the screen. The movie itself was outstanding. Daphne was outraged at what the girl Jenny's father did to her, and wanted to cry as she watched said girl fall into some form of addiction. Forest's love for the girl was sweet, and by the end of the movie Daphne was crying her eyes out. On their way back to Harry's place she remembered something about Forest's run across the United States. This caused her to come up with an idea that she passed on to the other once they were inside.

"Hey guys do you remember that line 'Shite Happens'?" Daphne asked.

"And she hates it when I use foul language." Daphne swatted her boyfriend on the arm. "Okay, okay, yes I remember the line. What's on your mind?"

"Well I was thinking…"

* * *

><p>Malfoy Manor was loads better than the Burrow. It didn't look it was defying the law of gravity, and it was perfect in Ron's opinion. Sure he had received a few Howlers from his mum, but he didn't care. If things went the way they supposed to he would be back in Gryffindor tower to spy on the Potter brat. That was the best option, but that was just an option. With the Quidditch World Cup, and Triwizard Tournament coming up Ron couldn't even think of being near that glory seeking git. With Lucius and Narcissa's help he had shucked most of his disgusting habits, and the only one he still had (but barely) was the way he ate.<p>

He had been relegated to a separate eating area while the family ate so long as he just shoveled food into his mouth. Lucius explained it this way: "That was the old you Ronald, and as long as you hold onto that eating habits you are still beholding to the Weasleys." He disagreed to the analogy, but he understood the sentiment.

Grimie popped in with Ron's food at this point. "Here is your food sir, and Lord Lucius says if you eat like you did last night yous can return to the dining hall tomorrow for breakfast sirs."

"Thank you Grimie. You are dismissed." Ron waved the house-elf off. "Soon Potter I will be a more respectable gentleman than you are." Ron looked in the mirror at his new strawberry blonde hair and smiled. This was going to be a great summer. He was going to go to the Qudditch World Cup while Potter was left out in the cold with those horrible muggle relatives of his.

* * *

><p>Harry was lounging in a red and gold colored lounge chair. The back patio of his new home had been magically expanded and enhanced for privacy. Harry thought that it was enhanced in this manor so Sirius could fool around with Janet. The mere thought of his godfather starkers with an equally starkers Janet Rosemerta was enough to cause him to shiver violently. Harry had spent a lot of the summer thus far sunbathing in an attempt to tan. The first day he had stayed out in the sun a little too long, and he was burned front to back.<p>

The closing of the patio door brought Harry out of his reminiscence of the last two weeks. Looking over his shoulder Harry discovered his girlfriend walking out onto the patio wearing a bikini with a thin piece of green silk wrapped around her waist. Harry tried to resist staring at her, but he was failing miserably. When Harry's eyes finally Daphne's she smiled mischievously.

"Like what you see Harry?" There was a hint of seduction in her voice.

"Oh for sure," Harry said in joking manor.

Daphne popped the piece of silk an inch or so from his nose. "Just remember that my eyes are up here." She had two of her fingers pointed at her eyes.

"Of course love." Harry leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips.

The two of them talked about the possibility of someone else being in the Quidditch World Cup other than the two Harry had seen play. Harry told her that was a possibility, but highly unlikely. Bulgaria was still leading Russia in a three day long battle that didn't seem ready to end, and Ireland had already won their match against Peru. Daphne was betting on Russia to win with her mum. Harry just smiled and shook his head at this idea.

"What? There is now way that the game will be over anytime soon. Besides all Bulgaria has is one really good seeker, and that is it. There is no way…"

At that moment a screech owl came gliding into their conversation, or more aptly onto Daphne's outstretched arm (she had been pointing at Harry). There was a Daily Prophet attached to the owl's leg, and after paying for the special delivery Daphne began reading, and by the look on her face she was not happy. "Is something bothering you love?"

"Yes, how in the hell did Russia loose?" She threw the paper at him.

Harry looked at the headlines 'Bulgaria Wins 450-300!' He knew that Bulgaria would win, but he was a little surprised by the score himself. "Well to be honest Daphne having seen the way Krum plays, I don't think that Russia even stood a chance of winning. Their seeker flies like a blind duck with one wing missing."

"Harry that's mean," Daphne was giving him her best stare down, but a slight smile gave her away. "Besides until we hear back from the twins we will not know if Mr. Weasley got the tickets. My father can still get us top box tickets if you want to go so bad." Daphne had moved over to Harry's lounge chair, and was now straddling him. "That is unless you'd rather be doing something else."

"Oh defiantly," their faces were inches apart from one another.

"You know I never knew you to be such an exhibitionist Harry." John's voice cut through the air like a police siren.

The two teens separated quickly. Daphne was throwing daggers at John with her gaze. Harry could feel his cheeks burning. "John, this better be important, or I swear I am going to scream."

John laughed manically. "Now Harry, what makes you think that this isn't important?"

"You are wearing a Hawaiian shirt, board shorts, and sunglasses. Need I continue?" Harry said lifting an eyebrow.

"She's in a bikini." John pointed to Daphne. Daphne crossed her arms which caused John to hold up his hands. "Okay, okay. A guy can't even have just a tad bit of fun these days. Anyway back to why I'm here. Harry you know what happens this year, don't you?"

"How could I forget?" Harry frowned a little at the memory of the upcoming year. Cedric's death, the tournament, and the World Cup; and it was funny the way the order these events fell through his mind. A moment ago he was ecstatic to be going to the World Cup, and now he remembered what happened there. "Daphne there is something you should know."

Daphne looked between Harry and John then asked. "He isn't going to die is he!"

"NO!" Both of the men said at once.

"But this is the year shite starts to roll down hill." Harry said looking at the ground. Harry was expecting a slap across the face, but was instead wrapped in the arms of the woman he was becoming ready to die for. "I will be able to deal with everything don't worry Daphne."

"You say that like it's nothing Harry, but what if you get seriously hurt." She pushed away from his body and the look in her eyes made a chill run down his spine. "I want to know what is going to happen this year RIGHT NOW!" There was finality to that sentence that promised doom if he didn't comply with her demand.

Harry gulped before he answered. He started what was going to happen at Hogwarts this year, and to how he gets entered into it all. To the previous challenges from the dragons to the maze, and what happened after he and Cedric grabbed the Triwizard Cup. He looked over at John who was looking down at the moment. When he finished he was knocked to the ground as Daphne threw herself at him.

"Don't you dare die on me Harry James Potter!" Daphne screamed at him.

"I won't, I promise." He looked over at John. "Seriously couldn't this have waited?"

"Wait till when Harry, just before you were entered?" Daphne snapped.

"No I suppose not." Harry said rubbing her back. "Why are you here John?"

"To tell you that unless you want more complication then what has already happened, you will need to sit in front of Winky during the World Cup."

"Who's Winky?" Daphne demanded.

"A house elf concealing the man who will enter me in the Tournament and no I don't want to turn him in because the ritual will kill anyone else." Daphne's face went pale. "I know I sound mad, but Daphne this ritual require a little bit of my blood, and Voldemort is going to try and kill me."

"What do you mean by 'try'?"

"Our wands tail feathers of the same phoenix so they will not fight each other." Daphne's face relaxed at this point. "You know what will happen."

"One of my ancestors was a wand maker so my family library has a few books on wand construction, and their abilities." Harry lay there blinking for a moment. "Oh come on Harry I don't know everything, and the books only vaguely mention Priori Incantatem."

"Oh." Harry leaned in to kiss Daphne on the cheek. "So how are you related to the wand maker?"

"Through my mother," Daphne said sharply. "You have a lot of explaining to do, and maybe a massage or two before I even think of letting you kiss me again." She walked back into the house.

Harry looked back at John. "Don't make a habit of getting me in trouble."

"Why is that?" John asked with a smile on his face.

"You owe me for this one."

"I owe you nothing." John said laughing hysterically.

"I would take a martini at this point."

"Shaken or stirred?" John asked as he faded.

Harry wanted to responded, but hearing Janet call his name meant that they knew something had happened, "F my life!"

The next two weeks pasted seamlessly for Harry and company. Daphne had gotten over the whole Triwizard thing, and was bound and determined to help Harry if the challenges were different. The group as a whole had gone to Zonko's over the weekend and gathered the things they would need for the 'Opening Salvo' as Hermione called it. She was a bit worried about what the twins would do if they were blamed for this series of pranks. Harry tried to tell her that the worst that could happen is that they could find a ten tongue toffee in their food. This however caused an explanation as to what ten tongue toffee was, and this made two of the girls go 'ewww' while the third was laughing hysterically. Tracey didn't stop laughing till her girlfriend tapped her upside the back of the head.

"Tracey that is thoroughly disgusting." Susan said through gritted teeth.

"Maybe I should show you what happened in the Pensieve." Harry said with a smile.

"No, Yes." Was the simultaneous response of the girls?

"Alright to the pensieve it is then." Harry said pointing the way.

He could hear some groans coming from the group behind him, and one glance over his shoulder told him that even the most studious of the group wanted to see this… well sort of. Once inside the memory all the girls were laughing hysterically as his massively obese uncle hurled whatever he could get his hands on at Mr. Weasley. Aunt Petunia did not make herself any friends among the girls as she attempted to help her son while she left Harry in her husband's line of fire.

"Is that woman really that crazy?" Susan asked.

"I am afraid so Sue." Harry said calmly. "Even though she cared about my well being in the end she just couldn't get past the jealousy she had towards my mum."

"That's stupid." Daphne said.

"I know." said Harry.

"Okay now that the disgusting scene is over." Daphne tried to sound completely disgusted, but the light in her blue-green eyes belied her true feeling. "Neville did your gran get you the tickets or is it going to be just us and the Weasleys?"

"Sadly, I will," Neville paused while looking down at the ground. Harry thought he could see his friend's lips pulling up wards.

"It's okay Nev we…" Hermione started.

"…be able to go." Neville looked up at this point, and there was a large grin gracing his face.

"You prat!" Hermione said. She subsequently started hit him on the shoulder. "I swear you should have joined us."

"Gran would have skinned me alive." Neville said between laughs.

The rest of the day pasted uneventfully. Daphne and Harry spent a good amount of time talking about the upcoming game. She was desperately trying to figure out who would win the match, but Harry didn't budge an inch. He enjoyed the bribe attempts though. Snogging could be that dangerous could it? Well maybe some of the things that happened after might be, but that was only if they got caught. On his birthday Harry received a couple of quidditch supplies from Janet and Sirius. Hermione got him a book of advanced defensive spells. Daphne got him a book on Qudditch tactics with a note saying 'Ireland will LOSE' written on the inside. Harry laughed at this. The Weasley's got him a collection of Chocolate Frogs. Tracey and Susan had come together to get him a set of books on leadership both magical and muggle. "We thought you'd need them since you are our leader." Susan said before she curtsied. He opened Astoria's present with a slight amount of hesitation remembering what she had done to Ronald. Once he opened it there was a small 'pop', and within the box was a small wand holder, a pink wand holder.

"Interesting colour choice Astoria, may I ask why?" He looked at her to see she was backing away from her sister slowly.

"They're fake!" she screamed before taking off.

"What are fake?" Harry asked. Sirius conjured a full length mirror to reveal Harry was now wearing a pink tank top that barely concealed his very well endowed chest. "Oh." Was all he could say before he walked to his room to change his clothes.

"She's a Marauder." Was the last thing he heard Sirius say before heading up the stairs.

* * *

><p>Astoria was sitting there going over the notes given to her by Sirius, and relishing the idea of being a full-fledged Marauder. The sheer idea that her sister and her friends were all Animagi was astonishing, and slightly annoying. Her sister and her friends were all animagi and they never told her. Oh, this defiantly meant war. Though how to prank five fully trained witches and one overly distracted wizard was the challenge, and the fact that they had been taking notes from one of her teachers was equally troubling. If she didn't do things right she would be in some Sirius trouble.<p>

"I could get used to this." She whispered as she closed the book, and took out a quill, ink vial, and a piece of parchment.

* * *

><p>Harry tumbled out of the Floo for the Gods know how many times, and was picked up by a raven haired girl with bluish green eyes. Daphne was shaking her head, and had a bemused look on her face. Harry was trying to shake the feeling of déjà vu as he was 'introduced' to Bill and Charlie. Harry wanted to laugh as the argument of Bill's hair and earring started earlier this go round. Harry guessed that since he wasn't at Durzkaban this had altered a few things. Percy however was still resentful about any amount of noise outside his room. Harry would be bunking in Ron's old room with Fred, George, and Neville. He honestly felt sorry for Ginny because she would be sharing her room with Daphne, Hermione, Tracey, and Susan this time. Astoria would be joining them tomorrow along with her mum and dad.<p>

Once all his things were stored away in Ron's old room. Harry made his way back down to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was complaining about Fred and George apparently they got caught using the Ten Tongue Toffee on Susan who was none too thrilled about having an ever growing tongue. Once he and Nev got the forks and knives they made a hasty retreat before any heavy objects were hurled in their direction.

The banging noise coming from the garden told Harry not much about this day would change, but once he rounded the corner he nearly dropped the forks. Bill and Charlie were fighting with the tables, but they were not alone in doing so. Daphne and Tracey were right up there with them, and Susan was trying to get Hermione to move just a little bit closer to the action. When Tracey's table slammed into Daphne's the whole thing just fell apart.

"VICTORY!" screamed Tracey.

"Will you keep it down!" Percy bellowed.

"Sorry, Perce," said Bill grinning. "How are the cauldron bottoms coming on?"

"Very badly," said Percy peevishly, and he slammed the window shut. Chuckling, the four duelists waved their wands and either fixed their tables or set them firmly on the ground. The table cloth Bill conjured this time was so large Harry briefly thought of using it as sail for a small boat.

By seven o'clock the three tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs. Weasley's fine cooking, and the nine Weasleys and their six guest were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, beep-blue sky. Even though he hadn't been 'staved' due to Dudley's diet Harry still busied himself with eating while he let the others talk. He was also under the impression that these tables were enchanted in such a way as to make aware of the conversations going down at the other end.

"I told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday." Harry wanted to laugh at this given the changes made to the time stream he didn't know if it would be a single day match like last time, or if it would draw out to week long match. "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful that I've done it in good time…"

Harry started tuning Percy out in favor of more promising conversations. Susan and Hermione were having a spirited conversation on sports in general.

"I am telling you Hermione it is a good thing we have sports like qudditch. Without them life would be boring." Susan said enthusiastically.

"I am not saying that we shouldn't have sports, but why do they have to let the game be so violent?" Hermione protested.

"It's no worse than rugby or American football." Daphne chimed in.

"How do you know about that?" Susan asked.

"My dad heard about it from some muggle, and started watching it at home. The house isn't so suffuse with magic that messes with Muggle electricity." Daphne said matter-o-factly.

Next to Mrs. Weasley (who was still commenting about Bill's hair) Fred, George, Charlie, and Tracey were in heated conversation about the World Cup.

"It's got to be Ireland," Charlie said thickly, through a mouthful of potatoes. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."

"Bulgaria has Viktor Krum though," said Fred.

"That's one player, and need I remind you that MY team has seven good players." Tracy said putting her hand to her chest. "They also have damn good brooms."

"Your team," Charlie chuckled, "do you own them?"

"Not yet." Tracey said before sipping on her butterbeer.

Daphne looked up the table to make sure the twins were distracted before she quietly asked "So how are we going to get those two back for doing that to Sue?"

"It's got to be brutal." Hermione chimed in.

"Yeah- but we will work on it once the World Cup is over." Harry said quietly.

"Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. "You should really be in bed, the whole lot of you- you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. If you guys haven't got your thing leave your school list out I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting my kids tomorrow. There might not be any time after the World Cup; the match went on for five days last time."

"Wow- I hope it does this time!" Harry said with an air of enthusiasm he didn't really feel.

He heard Percy's quip about the idea, and didn't even bother holding in his laughter at the twins remarks.

* * *

><p>Harry was jostled awake the next morning by Mrs. Weasley. Yet again it felt like he had just lain down before be roused from his much need slumber. The twins moaned and groaned about not getting enough sleep. Fred groaned about being woken up while George and Nev looked like they wanted to kill someone. They dressed in silence too tied to talk. After a myriad of stretches and yawns the four of them made their way down stairs.<p>

Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a pot on the stove, while Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table check a sheaf large parchment tickets. He looked up as the boys entered and spread his arms so they could see his clothes more clearly. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans, what looked like a plaid shirt, and an old sport coat. The jeans seemed to be too big for him and were only held up by a thick leather belt.

"What d'you think?" he asked anxiously. "We're supposed to go incognito- do I look like a muggle, Harry?"

"Yes, perfect." Harry said trying to suppress a laugh. This choice of attire only reinforced the idea that while the Weasley kids could dress like muggles their parents really had no clue how to do it.

"Where're Bill, Charlie, and Per-Per-Percy?" Fred asked failing to suppress a yawn.

"Well they can Apparate, so their having a bit of a lie-in." Mrs. Weasley said.

An argument about why the twins couldn't Apparate as well broke out, before she wondered off to get the girls. While she was gone the Floo came to life. Daphne's mum (Alice) stepped aside so that Tori not run into her. Alice opted to stand on the other side of the stairs so as to not block the path to the table while Tori took a seat at the table next to Fred and George. A few minutes later Mrs. Weasley returned with the girls. Harry had to admit only one thing: Tracey did not look that great when she first woke up in the morning.

"Well hello Alice, where is Jacob?" Molly asked as she entered the kitchen.

"He is Apparating with Sirius and Janet later on in the day." Alice said with a smile on her face. "Do you need any help?"

"No I've just about got it thank you for offering though." Mrs. Weasley said over her shoulder.

"So what do you have to do to be able to Apparate?" Harry almost felt compelled to ask this question.

"Well there's a test you take dear." Mrs. Weasley said.

"You have to pass a test?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes," said Mr. Weasley, tucking the tickets safely into the back pocket of his jeans. "The Department of Magical Transportation had to fine a couple of people the other day for Apparating without a license. It's not easy Apparating, and when it's not done properly it can lead to nasty complications. This pair I'm talking about went and splinched themselves."

Everyone in the room flinched.

"George!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply, and they all jumped.

"What?" said George, in an innocent tone that deceived nobody.

Once more the scene of ten tongue toffees flying from the most unlikely of places played out. Harry was looking at the ground during the whole ordeal. He knew the twins would probably yell at him at some point, but not right now, and not here. He just knew that if this didn't happen Mrs. Weasley would never agree with them building Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes later on.

Once breakfast was done Harry walked somberly up to get his things. When the door slammed behind him he knew what was coming.

"Why didn't you tell us this was going to happen Harry!" George damn near screamed.

"Because if I did she would never agree to your idea of a job, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes would never be more than a dream!" Harry shot back.

"Explain." Fred said curtly.

"I won't go into to detail, but like I said this need to happen for your mum to see reason."

"So this had to happen for our dream?" George asked. He still sounded angry, but he was no longer yelling.

"Yes it did," was all Harry said before he walked out the door.

The walk to Ottery St. Catchpole was a similar affair. Mrs. Weasley still told the twins to behave as they left. Harry still had the conversation about how they were getting to the World Cup unsure of the affect that _not_ having it would cause on the way things played out. Poor Tori looked like she was going to keel over any second now. Hermione was helping Susan support Tracey while holding onto her side. Daphne was even leaning on Harry's shoulder.

"Are you alright Astoria?" asked Alice.

"I'm fine mum." Tori said between gasping breaths.

"Now we just need to find the Portkey," said Mr. Weasley, replacing his glasses and squinting around at the ground. "It won't be too big… Come on…"

They spread out, searching. They had only been at for a couple of minutes, however, when a shout rent the still air.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!" Harry smiled at the sound Mr. Diggory's voice.

Harry turned and smiled at the two taller men silhouetted against the starry night sky. Harry had to bite his tongue keep from saying 'hello' to the approaching men.

"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, smiling as he strode over to the man. Harry pulled Daphne closer as they walked up to the man. Once everyone was near him Mr. Weasley began the introduction. "This is Amos Diggory everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you all know his son Cedric."

"Hello Amos," said Alice.

"Lady Greengrass," Mr. Diggory did a half bow.

"Hi," said Cedric looking around at them all.

Everyone said hi back except Fred, George, and Tori who merely nodded. They were still mad because Cedric had beaten Gryffindor last year.

"Long walk Alice, Arthur?" Mr. Diggory asked.

"Oh sure ask him if the walk was murderous." Alice said teasingly.

Mr. Weasley laughed before answering. "It wasn't too far. We live just on the other side of village there. You?"

Harry tuned out the explanation of the Diggorys morning. He knew the explanation, and didn't really want to hear it again. He found himself doing this more and more these days saved for when the situation was brand new. Sure he might get yelled at by Mad-eye for his lack of 'Constant Vigilance'. He had to bite back a laugh because it looked like something serious was being discussed at that moment, and give that Mr. Weasley was pointing at his kids it must be introduction time.

"These three miscreants are mine." Alice said pointing to Astoria, Daphne, and Tracey. "This is their friend Hermione Granger; this is Tracey's girlfriend Susan Bones, and this Daphne's beaux Harry Potter." The amount of sarcastic sweetness in her voice as she introduced the couples made Harry want to gag.

"Merlin's beard," Amos Diggory said his eyes widening. "Harry? Harry _Potter_?"

"Er- yeah," said Harry.

"Ced's talked about you, of course," said Amos Diggory. "Told us all about playing against you last year… I said to him, I said- Ced that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will… _You beat Harry Potter!_"

Once again Harry tuned things out. He only returned to the here and now when Daphne elbowed him in the ribs. Harry looked around and saw everyone touching a punctured old football. Moving a little closer to Daphne with a little bit of difficulty owing to the size of their backpacks he listened as Mr. Weasley counted down until 'liftoff', and then with the familiar sensation of a hook being attached to the back of his naval. He could feel Daphne and Hermione's shoulders slamming into him as they were pulled irresistibly forward until his feet slammed into the ground. He stumbled for a little bit before he tried to help Daphne keep her footing. This however failed and the both fell to the ground. When his vision cleared after his head hit the ground Harry found himself staring at the back of Daphne's head, and his hand felt like they had soft warm mass. At first he thought it was Daphne's arms then slowly, ever so slowly, it dawned on him where his hands _truly _lay.

"Those _are _mine you know?" Daphne said sternly. Harry's hands moved away from her chest so fast he thought his arms would go flying off his body. "Thank you love," Daphne said as her mum pulled her to her feet.

"You know Harry," Tracey said as she helped him to his feet, "we are never going to let you live this down?"

"It was an _accident_." Harry protested.

"Sure it was," teased Tracey, Sue, and Hermione as one.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," said the man collecting the Portkeys.

"Come on let's turn this thing in." said Mr. Weasley patting Harry on the back sympathetically.

* * *

><p>AN 3: Keep up the reveiws, and to any interested I am in need of a new beta. You can PM if you are interested.


	9. Pains and Gains

Chapter Nine: Pains and Gains

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: **I am looking for a new beta.** If anyone is interested please pm me. About my constant abuse of the defiantly versus definitely it goes to the fact I have Cerebral Palsy and the way you talk is often the way you type. When I say 'definitely' there is a slight 'a' sound to it, and oft times you spell things the way you say them. Sorry about that though. Italics are people speaking in French or Parseltongue. Keep the reviews coming because they feed my imagination! Cheers!

Harry and company walked up to Basil as he and mister Weasley exchanged words and the group parted ways. The younger members of the group heading to Mr. Roberts' cottage kept making Harry and Daphne blush ever so slightly. Once again Mr. Weasley asked Harry to assist him with the money, and Alice paid close attention to what Harry said to Mr. Weasley. Once both tent sites were paid for Mr. Roberts began explaining the 'strange' people that had been showing up. The wizard who was stationed outside Mr. Roberts house was a tad bit younger, but still dressed in plus-fours.

Once out of ear shot of Mr. Roberts the wizard spoke, "Been having a lot of trouble with him. Need a Memory Charm ten times a day just to keep him happy." He shook his head a little bit at that point. "I feel bad about having to do it too."

"Why's that?" asked Alice. A pensive look plastered on her face.

"His eldest child is a witch. And Ludo Bagman's not helping my plight either. He walking around in his old Wasp uniform, and talking about Quaffles and Bludgers at the top of his lunges." The man gave a long exacerbated sigh. "But I'll be glad when this is all over. See you later, Arthur."

Harry began wondering if this change was his fault or whether it was a result of something else entirely. The butterfly effect as it were. Something that Hermione had been warning him about since she had become aware of the truth to Harry's current situation. At first he had put the idea off as happenstance, but now…

"Harry, are you alright?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Yes sir, is something the wrong?" Harry asked looking around at the group. Once he saw the three signs one reading WEEZLY. He looked over at Daphne who had impatient look on her face. "What?"

"Do you mind helping us put up the tent? That is unless the Great Harry Potter has other plans?" Daphne asked with an evil grin on her face.

"No I don't mind. I was thinking about something." Harry said as blush crawled across his face.

"Or someone maybe." Susan chuckled.

"Whatever!" Harry said between laughs.

The tent went up faster this time, but Mr. Weasley was still just a touch overzealous with the mallet. Hermione looked over to him as if to ask 'Please tell me these are magical.' Harry just laughed and entered the tent. Nothing had changed. It was still like Ms. Fig's house, and instead of Ron it was Susan complaining about the oven. The girls' tent was the same as well. It was still small, and Neville was saying they should keep an eye on Susan and Tracey to make sure they behaved themselves. This earned him a couple of punches on his right arm.

Harry, Neville, Daphne, Hermione, and Susan were tasked with getting the water for the group. As they made their way to the tap Harry smiled as Kevin once again inflated a slug. A lot of the scenery didn't change: witches and wizards trying to act muggle and not succeeding that well at it. The little boy Kevin once again was inflating a slug with his father's wand. The two little witches were flying on toy brooms, and looking thoroughly happy. As they made their way into the sea of green they were intercepted by Seamus Finnigan. Dean Thomas was sitting there with Seamus and the sandy-haired woman Harry still thought was his mum.

"Harry, Nev, Susan, Hermione!" Seamus yelled.

"What am I chopped liver!" Daphne said. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Didn't see you there beautiful," Dean Thomas said with a smile, "and besides we were distracted." He winked over at Susan.

"I'm taken Thomas." Susan said and for the first time Harry heard her use a Scottish brogue.

"Are the decorations bothering you?" Seamus asked a mischievous grin crossing his face.

"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" said Mrs. Finnigan. "You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over _their _tents. You'll be supporting Ireland of course?"

Again it took several confirmations to convince Mrs. Finnigan that they were indeed supporting Ireland before they could even leave. It was Tracey who mentioned that they wouldn't say anything else surrounded by the Irish.

"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents?" said Hermione.

"Let's go and have a look." Harry said pointing over to the Bulgarian flag of white, green, and red.

"You already know so why don't you tell us?" said Susan.

"Because I don't want ruin the surprise." Harry said imitating her slight Scottish brogue.

"Stuff it Harry, I picked it up from Professor McGonagall." Susan said curtly.

"How you're not in Gryffindor." Neville said in stunned amazement.

"She's my godmother." Susan said leaving the rest of them slightly shell shocked. "Well are you coming, or am I going to have to levitate the lot of you?"

With that said the group made their way to the Bulgarian's tents. Once there Harry once again found himself staring at a sea of Viktor Krum's posters. The picture was, of course moving, but all it did was blink.

"Krum," said Harry quietly.

"What?" said Hermione.

"Krum!" said Harry. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"Did you say that last _time_?" Daphne asked.

"Hell no, Ronald did, and to be honest I just felt like saying it." Harry said in blasé manner.

"He looks really grumpy," said Hermione, looking around at the many Krums blinking at them. This of course caused the sense of déjà vu to tick up just another notch.

"I am not gonna parrot Ronald anymore than I have to." Harry proceeded to walk towards the tap again. "But he is bloody amazing." He stopped for a moment, "Krum not Ronald."

"I would be careful if I were you Daphne, looks like Harry is crushing on another man." Susan had an ear to ear grin on her face.

Daphne swatted her over the shoulder. "Quiet you," she looked over at Harry, "and that better not be the case mister."

"It isn't, come on." Harry said shaking his head.

"Then why did you say that?" Susan asked.

Harry responded in a whisper. "Cause the last time though this place a former friend of mine said that…"

"And you thought it needed to be said?" Hermione said curtly.

"Yes," said Harry.

There was already a small queue for the tap in corner of the field. The group of friends joined it right behind the Ministry Wizard and old Archie. The argument seemed a little more heated than Harry remembered, but then again it could be that his outlook had change is all. Archie was dressed in a nightgown made of what looked to made of pure silk. It was still bedecked in flowers. He was still stubborn about it though.

"Just put it on, Archie, there's a good chap. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate is already getting suspicious-"

"I bought this in a Muggle shop," said Archie stubbornly. "Muggles wear them."

"Muggle _women _wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear _these_," said the MinistryWizard thrusting a pair of pinstriped trousers.

"I'm not putting those on," said old Archie in indignation. Harry was biting back laughter at this point. "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks."

The girls started giggling at this point. Even though Tracey was trying to act very stoic she like the other girls walked away leaving Neville and Harry to hold their place in the queue. Once Archie had left off with his water the girls returned.

Walking more slowly now, due to the weight of the water, they made their way back to their campsites. Here and there they saw more familiar face: other Hogwarts students and their families. Oliver Wood, the old Captain of Harry's House Quidditch team, who had just left Hogwarts, dragged Harry to his parents' tent to introduce him, and told him excitedly that he had just been signed to the Puddlemere United reserve team. Next they were hailed by Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff fourth year, and a little further on they saw Cho Chang. Once again Harry spilled water down his front as he waved back to Cho.

Once again Harry pointed out the other group of teenagers to stop the others from laughing. Well most of the others were laughing; Daphne was throwing daggers at Cho with her eyes.

"Daphne I was just saying 'hi', and besides if _things_ hold true, she will be dating Cedric this year." Harry said in a soothing manor.

"And what about next year?" seethed Daphne.

"They will still be dating if I have anything to do with it." Harry whispered in her ear. "If he doesn't die things should be good for the two of them. I am in love with you, I am dating you, and I am soul bound to you. All of the things, in that order, mean I am and will always be loyal to you."

Harry leaned in and kissed Daphne.

"Okay I have a couple of cavities now can we get moving?" Neville said with an ear to ear grin on his face. Daphne and the girls started hitting him about the shoulders.

Harry laughed but didn't say anything less he turn the girls' ire on himself. In all the years he had known Neville it was the past few months that showed him how funny he could be. His timidness was dying down too. Last time it had taken a total of six years to make him stand up for prolonged periods of time. Harry enjoyed his company as much as he enjoyed Ron's the last time through. One thing was certain at least this time his group of friends would all be standing beside him this year, and not breakaway because of shite he didn't do.

"God it took you guys FOREVER." Tori whined. "What kept you?"

"Met a few people," Susan said, setting the water down. "Mr. Weasley still hasn't got that fire started?"

"Dad's having fun with the matches," said Fred.

Once again Mr. Weasley had dropped a match when it caught fire. Hermione and Susan went to help him. Susan put out the small fire that started while Hermione showed Mr. Weasley how to light the match. They waited an hour before they started cooking, but what surprised Harry was who was doing the cooking. Mrs. Greengrass it turned out did all the cooking at the house even though they had a few house-elves to help them out. This was something that she apparently loved doing, and had done so since she was Daphne's age.

It had taken an hour and a half before the fire was hot enough to cook on. Again Harry sat back and watched the passersby on the small thoroughfare while they waited. Mr. Weasley once again informed him and Hermione of the people that were walking by. Some Harry remembered, and others were new to him. Mr. Wimple hand a set of antlers instead of horns though.

"How long has he had them?" Tori asked.

"Oh about six months now; they fall off every three weeks and grow back in a couple of days." Mr. Weasley explained.

This small conversation made Harry worried as by the end of it Tori had a vicious smile. This only meant doom to any that was on the receiving end of one of her pranks. He looked over to Daphne who had an equally dreaded expression on her face. Tracey and the twins on the other hand were grinning as if this was a good thing. Harry was glad for one single thing: Sirius wasn't here. He and Tori would be designing a prank spell that did this exact same thing… or worse.

Finally the fire was ready to cook on. Once they started cooking sausages and eggs the rest of the group showed up. Sirius thumped Percy up side the back of his head when he mentioned apparition. When Percy glared back at him Sirius said "Anti-muggle security."

"Sirius as I remember it you were a bit of a braggart as well." Janet said with a smile.

"Yes, _but _I wasn't this bad." Sirius said as he kissed her.

"No, you were worse." Kyle said as he passed the kissing couple. "How have things been Arthur?"

"Not too bad Lord Greengrass and yourself?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"None of this 'lord' business Arthur and I've been fine, just having to endure Alice and your wife going over wedding plans." Mr. Greengrass said calmly. Mrs. Greengrass just glared at her husband.

"Wedding plans, but that's not supposed to happen for another two years," Daphne whined, "and it's MY WEDDING!"

"Back to the food," Harry said pointing to the freshly cooked sausages. He didn't mind the topic he just didn't want to think about his impending nuptials.

"Terrified Harry?" asked Sirius somewhat between gritted teeth as Janet was giving him a rather stern look.

"No." Harry tried to hide the falsehood behind his answer, but given the look on everyone's face he was failing.

As Harry finished his lunch Ludo Bagman showed his boyish face once more in Harry's life… scratch that lives. Harry tried to ignore the man, but when Percy, oh so blissfully ignorant Percy, stood to shake Bagman's hand this began the introductions once again. First were the adults who Bagman knew from the Ministry mostly due to parties and what not, and then it was the kids turn. First Mr. Weasley introduced his own children, then Tracey and Susan (who were introduced as couple); Neville was next, followed by Astoria, and then Daphne and Harry. Harry wanted to vomit when Bagman's eyes did the familiar flick upwards to look at his scar for the briefest of moments.

"Everyone," Mr. Weasley continued, "this is Ludo Bagman you know who he is, it's thanks to him that we've got such good tickets-"

Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing.

Once again bets were made. The twins looked at Harry as if pleading him to confirm their suspicions. Harry just threw up his arms and shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to keep the winner secret. This however made the twins throw in two additional fake wands bumping up their price from last time. Harry just shook his head at this. He was trying not to give them encouragement, and it seemed to have failed. Bagman didn't lower the price of the wands, so if things worked out like they did last time this would be interesting to see the sordid fool payout what he owed the twins if they did in fact when their bet.

"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it all out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages." Bagman said in usually chipper voice.

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry rolled his eyes behind Percy's back, but thankfully he was cut short by Lord Greengrass.

"It astounds me that that man still works in the Ministry given what he's done." Kyle said with sour look on his face.

"Oh he's caught a lot of flak for what he's done that's for sure," said Bagman, "but it's hard to believe he's guilty of letting evidence slip through his fingers."

"It's also hard to believe that they still let him work in the Ministry." Sirius said bitterly.

"Oh- talk of the Devil." Bagman said a little bit too cheerful for the situation.

With a resounding pop Bartemius Crouch Sr. showed his face. His hair still combed with laser like precision, his mustache still cut with a slide rule, and his suit still pinstriped. The look on his face showed his utter annoyance with Bagman. Things that he didn't notice before now shone brightly like a signal fire in the dead of night. One look back at Bagman showed him that the man had slight look of dread on his face. Harry was uncertain if this was due to Bertha's disappearance, or Bagman's complete disregard for the Anti-Muggle security ruling.

Harry felt a weight press into his lap. One glance to his left found him staring into Daphne's beautiful blue green eyes. "What?"

"You seem bothered by something. What is it?" Daphne asked in soft low voice.

"Bagman's a crook and the only time the twins will get any money from him is tonight- maybe." Harry said the last part reluctantly.

"Look Harry Ireland is going to knock the knickers off Bulgaria, and their right Krum very well may catch the snitch, but I don't think they'll get anything out of Bagman." She lowered her voice at this point. "He doesn't seem the most trustworthy of people."

Harry leaned in to kiss his girlfriend, "He's not." As his lips got closer to her's he asked "Should we be doing this?"

"I don't know, and to be frank I don't care." When their lips met harry heard some noise being made behind him and off to his right, but at that moment he didn't really care what his dogfather was saying, or the commentary coming from Tori he was in blissful 'seclusion' at the moment.

"Oi, what is this, a snog-fest?" Fred screamed rather loudly.

Harry looked around to find that he wasn't the only one looking lips with his significant other. Janet was currently occupying Sirius' time since Crouch was still her. Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass were- distracted would be the nicest way of putting it. Susan and Tracey were being the overly hormonal teenagers they were despite Hermione's attempts at getting them to cool down just a little. Tori was fishing around in her bag for something, and Harry just hoped it wasn't a camera as there would be plenty of blackmail material from all of this.

Insert line

Ron was lounging in a plush bed reading some of the older laws of the Wizengamot. It seemed so simple now to abuse these laws. His blood status made it damn near impossible for him to be arrested for Underage Wizardry violations. It was solely up to ones parents to oversee this sort of thing in a pureblood household, and while the Weasleys cared about such nonsense his new family did not. It was perfect really when Ron thought about it. Lesser creatures such as Granger would be kept at a disadvantage compared to people like himself. Potter was another matter. As a half-blood he had the same rights as a pureblood, and that didn't sit well with him. Potter should be thrown to the curb like the trash he was. In Ron's opinion he was garbage just like that tramp Granger, and it was shame that a beauty like Greengrass was soul bound to Potter.

A knock on his door stole his attention. "Who is it?"

"It's me Weasley." Draco said casually.

"I'm decent." Ron said calmly. It had been a long time since Draco had used that name in a scornful way. It had taken Lucius an hour to find an 'inheritance' that he held 'rights' to. Since then Ron knew what it was like to live the good life.

"So reading the laws again are you Ronald?" Draco said with smirk on his face.

"Yes, and I am just debating if this one will work on Granger. 'No Muggle-born shall take an action against the Head of House of a Noble family that endangers the bloodline'. I think it will put Granger in her place." Ron's smirk mirrored Draco's.

"Careful though Ronald. More than likely she is the last heir of Dagworth-Granger and if this is discovered you will be in even more trouble than she could be. When is the law from anyway?"

"Fifteen o' four," Ron said calmly. "Is Granger the heir to it though?"

"Maybe, the last Dagworth just died, and the first thing the Ministry will do, if permitted, is test the seals magic, and if it comes up with a name, which it will, then it is that person who gets the seal and the vote. It is also contestable by the Black family, yet another reason why we don't have it yet." Draco said this with some marked resentment.

"Well she can't get it anyway." Ron said with a twisted smile.

"Why not?" asked Draco.

"She's not a Parseltongue, and if rumors are true Dagworth was." Ron cackled at this point. "To think something so simple could ruin her life forever." Ron got out of bed. "So do your parents need anything?"

"It's almost time to go, and the way I hear it your old family is somewhere in this mass of people. Let's hope they get caught in the 'fun' tonight."

"Indeed."

Insert line

Harry was wondering around with his friends amongst all the merchants that showed up near their tents. There was something now humdrum about all of this. He just about felt like a person watching a movie at this point after seeing 'repeats' of things that had 'already passed'. It was getting harder not to let things slip that he should. A comment by Tori nearly caused him to say that Bagman was about as trustworthy as a fox in the hen house.

"What's on your mind Talons?" Neville asked.

"Just how easy it would be for me to screw everything up at any one given point." Harry returned in a near whisper. "Earlier today with Webs I nearly let slip that Bagman's reliability is as bad as a broken broom."

"Seriously, I thought he was alright." Neville said with a look of stunned disapproval.

"Yes, he bets with money he doesn't have any more, and in a few months will be make bets his body can't cash." Harry said with a grin on his face.

"Bad movie pun Harry." Tracey said as she threw her arms over his and Neville's shoulders. "So Tal what can we be expecting this year: Massive snogging and general shenanigans?"

Harry let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Only you Spots, only you," he looked her in the eyes at this point, "and to be honest a bunch of mayhem and discord."

"WHAT?" Neville and Tracey said as one.

Harry looked around for any ease droppers and 'bugs'. Once he was certain the coast was clear he started his tail. "The Triwizard Tournament is returning and my name will be add under a fourth school, and if I don't let this happen someone else will be used to revive Snakeface, and that person will lose their life." The colour seemed to drain from Neville's face, and Tracey looked horrified. "I know it sounds crazy, but I must let this happen I have more than one thing going for me."

"What can we do to help?" Tracey asked.

"Start working Slytherin house get them away from the Death Nibblers, and their progeny so we don't have to worry about them next year."

"What happens next year Talons?" Neville asked.

"A toad gains the Defense against the Dark Arts job, and no I'm not kidding." Harry said with a smirk on his face.

"How can a bloody toad teach at the Hogwarts?" Tracey demanded.

"Her name is Dolores Umbridge." When he said this name both of his friends recoiled at the thought. "I'll explain more when we're alone." He gestured to the massive crowed around them. None of them paying the teens any attention, but Harry thought he recognized a few familiar faces in the crowed.

"What's wrong Harry?" Tracey asked a look of concern plastered on her face.

"I think I see Malfoy over there," Harry pointed to a pair of very familiar blondes, "but I don't know the kid next to him." Harry pointed to a strawberry blonde teen standing next to Lucius Malfoy. "I have a bad feeling about this. Let's get back to the tents."

The other two teens nodded, and turned back to the four tents. Harry cast glances over his shoulder at the unknown teen. Harry couldn't shake the feeling that he knew him, but he couldn't place where he knew him from. It was too far away for him to say it was Ronald, but that was a distinct possibility.

Once back at the tents they were quizzed repeatedly about why they looked so worried. They brushed it off to feeling a bit 'spooked' at seeing Draco in a leotard. When he explained what a leotard was to the magical raised a few of them shuddered. Sirius was looking at him as if he had just uttered words that would get them both in trouble and by the look on Janet's face he was probably right.

Thankfully he was saved from a lecture by the sounding of the gong. The assembled group joined the throng and made their way to the stadium. Once again Harry felt a sense of awe looking at the stadium. Sirius explained how they had constructed it this time around, and with misty eyes said "It's a pity I never went professional."

"Cry baby." Kyle said with a crocked grin on his face.

Mr. Weasley laughed as he handed the Ministry witch their tickets. "Prime seats!" she snickered as she checked their tickets. "Top box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go!"

The stairs were still carpeted in rich purple that it had been all those years ago. People still exited the stairs at different points, and when Harry got to the top box his jaw dropped. There were more chairs there than he remembered, and this was probably all due to the choices he and other people (if you could call Ron a person) had made. Just like last time there was an elf (Winky hopefully) sitting in the second row near the edge. Taking a seat in front of the elf Harry began a conversation with Daphne about nothing in particular and at the most opportune time he dropped Dobby's name.

"Harry why are we even talking about Dobby, I love him about as much as one can love him, but why now?" Daphne asked this almost as if the world would stop spinning if she didn't.

"Well for a minute I thought he was sitting behind us." He pointed his thumb over to the elf behind him. "But I don't think he's interested in quidditch that much."

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the elf asked, and when Harry turned to look at her he recognized her right away.

"Yes, and sorry that I confused the two of you," Harry said politely. "I shouldn't judge on your appearance alone."

"But I's knows Dobby sir, and yous certainly is Harry Potter. Dobby speaks of you often." She looked up to his scar for confirmation of this fact. "My name is Winky sir."

They spoke with Winky for few more minutes before other people started filing into the top box. Once again Percy was jumping up and down like he was attempting to sit on a hedgehog. Once again when the Minister greeted Harry as if they were old friends Percy gave Harry a death glare this time however Harry just smiled back at him. Once more Fudge ambled on introducing Harry to the Bulgarian Minister for Magic. Bulgarian representatives finally caught on to who the Minister was talking about the usual gawking at his scar.

"Knew we'd get there in the end," Fudge said warily to Harry. "I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah I see his house-elf's saving him a seat. Good thing too these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places… ah, and here's Lucius."

The group of friends turned to see the Malfoy pride edging along the second row. Behind Draco was a strawberry blonde kid that at first glance looked like the bastard child of Lucius Malfoy and Molly Weasley. Harry had no idea what was going on, but he knew beyond a doubt that this young man was Ronald Weasley. Ron was introduced as Lucius' distant cousin, and the little ponce only smiled at his family, but what he said next made Harry's blood boil.

"And I do believe Arthur he is also you distant nephew. Odd how things work isn't it." Mr. Malfoy said in such a sickening tone Harry wanted to vomit.

"Yes Mr. Weasley and it is odd that you would keep such company." Ron was looking right at Hermione as he said this.

Before Harry or any of his friends could say anything Sirius spoke ending both the glares from the Malfoys, and killing the smirk on Ron's face. "Minister Fudge let me introduce Hermione Granger. I know this is a bad time to bring such things up, but I believe she is the last heir of the Dagworth-Granger family, and I would like to the Ministry to look into this as soon as possible."

"Is this true Ms. Granger?" Fudge looked bewildered at this proclamation by Sirius. Harry knew form his previous sixth year that Hermione MIGHT be related to a man called Hector Dagworth-Granger, but he had no idea it was so damn important.

"I'm not certain sir." Hermione said truthfully.

"She is a Muggle-born Minister the likelihood of her having rights to the Dagworth-Granger voting block-"

Lucius was stopped short by Kyle Greengrass. "It is quite high given her last name, and I am willing to back this challenge to Lucius' claim."

"We will discuss this in depth on the marrow then." The Minister said with a smile. "It is an honour to meet you in either case Lady Granger."

The group of friends turned their attention to the smirking Padfoot, and as if they had a mental link said as one "You will explain this later." This caused some of the adults to give them indignant looks (Malfoys) while others laughed at a full grown wizard being cowed by six teenagers. The laughter died down as Ludo Bagman entered the box. He asked if the Minister was ready, and after the confirmation cast Sonorus on himself the show got under way.

"Ladies and Gentleman… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" Harry wanted to make a gagging noise at the overly cheerful prick, but given the setting he thought better of it. "And now without any further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

Harry prepped himself for what was to come by closing his eyes and grabbing hold of Daphne's hand. When Mr. Weasley said Veela Daphne jumped into Harry's lap causing his laugh just a little as his girlfriend something but she said it so low Harry couldn't quite make it out, however he was certain it was along the lines of 'he's mine'.

"Cover your ears Harry!" he heard Daphne say.

Harry kept his eyes closed but as he covered his ears he said "But why?" with a coy smile on his face.

Daphne hit him on the shoulder "Prat."

Harry could feel Daphne warp her arms around him, and when he heard booing he knew the Veela had stopped dancing. Opening his eyes he saw Daphne glaring at him for his previous comment, but he kissed her lightly on the lips. When he broke the kiss he noticed she was blushing profusely.

Once Daphne was back in her seat the Leprechauns were making their way onto the field. Harry didn't even try to get the gold knowing full well that it would be gone in an hour. Harry half wanted to laugh at the twins who were picking up gold coins like they were candy. As they introduced the players Harry was once again in awe of at the speed of the players. Victor still received the biggest greeting out of all the players.

The game progressed as he remembered it had gone with just a few differences. Bulgaria scored a few more goals (twenty-nine) than last time, but they were still woefully outmatched by Ireland. The total was Ireland: 460 and Bulgaria: 450. Harry watched as the teams made their way into the Top Box. Ignoring the irate look on Fudge's face Harry noticed that a beaten and battered Bulgarian Qudditch player was staring at a bushy haired friend of his. Harry fought with every fiber of his being not to smile at this moment. This was one in a latest of things that made Harry wonder how much he'd actually missed because of his inattentiveness. Moody would be absolutely lived at that thought. Constant vigilance still rang throughout his mind even now some two years after his death in the previous time line.

Shaking his head when Daphne tapped him on the shoulder Harry stood up, and followed his friends back to the tents. He knew what was going to happen, and he would be damned if he let any of them get hurt.

Insert line

Hermione was jostled awake at what she initially thought was the morning after a very good qudditch match, but she could smell smoke in the air, and the look on Mrs. Greengrass' face was one of abject terror.

"Get up girls, and get dressed in hurry, we need to leave the campsite." Mrs. Greengrass voice was hurried, and she was still in her nightclothes.

"What's wrong mum?" Tori asked as she threw on a robe.

"It's a bunch of idiots running amuck making trouble is all. Just get dressed and meet the boys, head to the forest."

Mrs. Greengrass left the tent before they could ask anymore question. Hermione grabbed her robe and started towards the door. When she got out side she noticed Mr. Roberts and his family were being used as some form of sick entertainment by peopled dressed in dark robes and wearing funny masked. The little girl seemed to be having a massive accidental magic fit sending some of the people flying through the air. Percy, Bill, and Charlie were emerging from the boys' tent, fully dressed, with their sleeves rolled up and their wands drawn.

"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted over all the noise, rolling up his own sleeves. "You lot- get into the woods, and stick _together_."

"I'll be with them Arthur!" Mrs. Greengrass called back to him. "Calm on kids."

"We're not kids!" the twins protested in stereo.

"You're acting like. Now come on." Mrs. Greengrass started leading the way into the forest.

George grabbed hold of Ginny's hand and started following Mrs. Greengrass into the forest. Hermione was following just behind Harry and Daphne. She looked around for Mr. Greengrass, but she couldn't see him. She looked over to her friend and noticed a look of worry on her face. Tracey who was standing next to her was muttering something about 'drunken idiots'. Hermione wondered if this was a reference to the men in weird masks or her father.

"OH!" She heard Neville yell as he tripped over a tree root.

"What happened?" she asked in a panicked voice, she stopped so abruptly that Tracey walked into her. She looked around but couldn't really see anything because of it being who knows what time at night. "Neville, where are you? Oh this is stupid- _lumos!_"

Neville looked both annoyed and slightly amused as he picked himself up of the ground.

"Tripped over a tree root," Neville said with a mass blush crawling across his face.

"Well, as accident prone as you are that's not surprising Longbottom," said a drawling voice from behind them.

They all turned sharply. Draco Malfoy was standing there with Ronald Weasley; both of them were leaning against a tree. For once the two trolls were nowhere to be seen. They both looked utterly relaxed give what was going on. It was almost as if they were expecting this to happen.

Neville in a moment of lapsed judgement told Malfoy to go do something that he would probably not have done if his gran were here. However Mrs. Greengrass was still her.

"Mr. Longbottom watch your language, and the two of you best go somewhere else." Mrs. Greengrass said sternly.

"Just standing her." Ronald replied "Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like _her_ spotted, would you?"

Ron was pointing right at Hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said defiantly.

"Granger their after _Muggles_," said Malfoy. "Do you want to be showing off your knickers in mid air? Because if you do, hang around… their moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."

"Hermione's a witch!" Harry snarled back.

"Have it your way, Potter," said Ronald, grinning maliciously. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood stay where you are."

"How dare you!" screamed Hermione's friends as a whole.

A sudden banging noise coming from behind them reminded them that Mrs. Greengrass was still here.

"Mr. Malfoy I don't care who your father is, but Miss Granger is both equal to you in station and damn near equal to you in wealth." Mrs. Greengrass was glaring at Malfoy and Ronald at this moment. "And Mr. Weasley I am shocked to see you standing where are."

"You shouldn't be, after all Potter and your daughter caused all of this." He gestured to what was going on around them.

"Let's just go." Hermione said in a frightful tone. The sounds coming from the campsite were frightening.

A few more words were exchanged with Ron, but Hermione let Mrs. Greengrass and Daphne deal with Harry's foul mouth. She had to say that Daphne did a much better job taking care of Harry's laps of social etiquette than she did. Harry took the lead at some point, and Hermione wondered whether he was doing this out of some perverse need to explore, or he was trying to match as best as possible what he had done in his past iteration of this event.

As they made their way through the forest they came across some students from another school, but being as they spoke French Hermione understood just enough to know the kids were looking for someone by the name of Maxime. When Mrs. Greengrass said "Hogwarts" a look of understanding crossed their faces. They bid Mrs. Greengrass goodbye, and the group continued on their way.

After a little while Harry made a groaning sound. "Damn, my wands gone."

"Harry language!" chided Hermione, Daphne, and Mrs. Greengrass.

"Are you sure you didn't drop it?" asked Sue shining her light on the ground.

"Positive. I had it when we went to the World Cup, and now it's gone." Harry said in an exasperated tone of voice.

The rest of them held the wands up to spread the light given off by their wands enough to light the ground around them. Unfortunately Harry's wand was nowhere to be seen. Mrs. Greengrass was about to cast a spell when a commotion off to their right drew her attention.

They spun around to find Winky the house-elf was fighting against some unseen force. Hermione couldn't really figure it all out, but she thought it might have something to do with her owner Mr. Crouch. Why that man would bind his elf in such away was beyond her understanding.

"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked distractedly as she leaned forward and laboured to keep running. "People high- high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!"

Hermione watched as Winky struggled to get away from the campsite. Was this because Mr. Crouch didn't give her permission to leave his ten? If that was the case then Hermione had an even less favourable opinion of Percy's boss with every passing interaction with his house-elf. What kind of person would treat their servants so horribly? She wondered if all his touting about his family always following the rules was a way of compensating for some kind of shortcoming within his own personal life.

"You coming Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Yes Harry."

Hermione followed them into the forest barely paying attention to the conversation that was going on between Mrs. Greengrass and Harry about Mr. Crouch. Hermione took this moment to ask about house-elves something that she had been neglecting to do since Harry brought this to her attention during their first Hogsmeade visit of last school year.

"Mrs. Greengrass, why doesn't anyone try and free the house-elves?" asked Hermione.

"Well being a Muggle-born I'm sure you've heard the story of the Elves and the Cobbler?" Hermione nodded in the affirmative. "Well these are those elves, and as I'm sure you've noticed they are incredibly loyal to their owner." Hermione looked indignantly at Mrs. Greengrass. "Look Hermione the story of the Elves and the Cobbler is real, and the Cobbler was a wizard by the name of Wilhelm Acker. He and his wife were left poor broke and destitute in the German countryside by zealous lord wanting Mrs. Acker for his own. He ceased control of Wilhelm's wand and had it snapped, and then took away any other means for him to make his shoes." Hermione's jaw hit the floor (so to speak), and one look over at Harry told her this was news to him as well. "The following winter he fell ill and could not afford the rent, and as the story goes he gave away his last pair of shoes, and had only enough leather to make two more pairs of shoes. That night low-elves (or serving-elves) came to his aid, and just like in the muggle story he sells one pair, and gives away the last. By the end of week of the week Acker had the money to pay both his rent, and replace his wand. He and his wife stayed up that night to see who had been making the shoes, and I don't think I need to tell you were this story goes."

"Mr. and Mrs. Acker made them clothes thus freeing them from their obligations, but then how did wizards and witches as a whole get the house-elves to serve them?" Hermione asked.

"No one knows that Hermione. The best answer I can give you is that some witch and/or wizard found out about this type of elf through Acker, and went looking for them, and things just snowballed from there."

"What happened to the Lord that had Acker's wand snapped?" Harry asked.

"He tried to force himself on a young woman who turned out to be the illegitimate daughter of another Lord, and was hanged for it." Mrs. Greengrass said as they walked past a group of young men trying to impress the Veela. "Honestly some men could do with learning this story."

They walked on ward trying to put as much distance between them and chaos at the campsite as possible. When they came to clearing in the woods Mrs. Greengrass suggested they stop right here as they would see anyone coming. It was then that they saw Mr. Bagman once more. He had defiantly changed in the short amount of time that had gone by. He was no longer buoyant and rosy-faced; there was no more spring in his step. He looked very white and strained.

"Who's that?" he said blinking down at them. "Mrs. Greengrass what are you doing here?"

"A group of either want-to-be or actual Death Eaters causing an uproar down at the campsite Ludo," Mrs. Greengrass said calmly.

Bagman stood their plinking.

"What?" he asked a pit perplexed.

"You heard me Ludo the Death Eaters are at the campsite making a mess of things." Mrs. Greengrass said sternly.

Bagman swore loudly.

"Damn them!" he said, looking quiet distracted, and without another word, he Disapparated with a small _pop_!

"Not exactly on top of things, Mr. Bagman, is he?" said Hermione, frowning.

"Nope," said Harry with a dejected look on his face.

"What's wrong Harry?" asked Mrs. Greengrass.

"Nothing I've just got a bad feeling about all of this." Harry said as calmly as possible.

"I don't blame you." Said Neville, "I mean first you lose your wand, and then all of this happens. What are the odds of that happening eh?"

"Given what's happened to me over the years Neville that is actually quite high actually." Harry said with a grin on his face.

"Harry dear that isn't something to proud of," Mrs. Greengrass had a disparaging look on her face.

"I know." Harry's coy smile did not waver. "Yet when you think about it is kind of funny."

"Honestly Harry," Hermione and Daphne chided.

Hermione looked over at Daphne and smiled at the girl. It was a good thing she was no longer the one trying to keep Harry from doing the dumbest thing he could come up with anymore. She looked back to Mrs. Greengrass, "Mrs. Greengrass if you know so much about Wizarding History why aren't you teaching History of Magic instead of Binns?"

"I wanted to raise my children Hermione, and besides suffering through the pains of Professor Binns classes is almost a rite of passage at this point," Mrs. Greengrass had a devious smile on her face at the moment, "but after seeing who," see looked over at Harry and the twins, "my daughters are friends with I have considered it."

"Mum!" Daphne wailed in protest.

"No, I'm serious Daphne; I have put in my application. I just haven't heard back from Professor McGonagall yet is all." The smile on Mrs. Greengrass' face was nearly infectious.

Mrs. Greengrass looked as she wanted to say more, but she fell silent and was looking around. It didn't take long for Hermione to figure out why as a twig off behind her snapped abruptly. It sounded as if someone was staggering towards their clearing. Hermione gripped her wand tighter as if she was expecting someone to jump out from behind the trees and attack the group. It was too dark to see anything really clearly, and it looked as if Harry was more than annoyed by the situation.

"Who's there?" Harry said.

But whoever it was said nothing. Hermione looked back to Mrs. Greengrass, and she looked as if she wanted to stand up and march into the forest to find out who it was. And then without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any other they had heard in the wood; and it uttered not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell.

"MORSMORDRE!"

And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness Hermione's eyes had been struggling to penetrate, it flew up over the tree tops and into the sky.

Mrs. Greengrass gasped sharply. "Come on children let's get out of here."

Hermione took one look skyward and realized why she wanted to leave. Standing there above them was the Dark Mark: A skull comprised of emerald stars with a stack protruding from its moth in place of its tongue.

Hermione tried to get to her feet, but before she could several popping sound erupted from the forest around them. Then a before she realized what was happening Mrs. Greengrass was yelling for them to get down, and at the same time several other voice shouted "Stupefy!" When the beams of light were done bouncing off the trees Hermione picked her head up off the ground. A group of witches and wizards were looks of sheer brutal determination etched on their faces. Hermione looked over to Mrs. Greengrass who had her hands held in the air. One look back into the crowed explained why she looked so angry. Mr. Crouch was walking towards her as if she had committed a heinous offence.

"It wasn't any of us that cast the mark Barty, and if you even say a word of the sort I swear I will knock some sense into that head of yours."

"Making threat against the ministry are you?" Mr. Crouch said sternly.

"Not the Ministry Barty, against you. You've nearly sent me to Azkaban illegitimate once before, you've illegally held Sirius in jail for thirteen years without a trial, and you sent you own son to his death with not so much as a second glance." The ice in Mrs. Greengrass' voice was undeniable, and the thought that Mr. Crouch had almost sent one of the nicest people she had ever known to Azkaban scared her even more than the thought of the same man sending his own son to Azkaban.

"There also children Barty." The sound Mr. Weasley's voice took the night air.

"And I will waste all the money in my vault to keep your filthy hands off my wife." The visceral sound of Mr. Greengrass' left nothing to the imagination as to how he truly felt towards Mr. Crouch.

There was a moment of uneasy silence before someone spoke again.

"If you didn't cast the Mark then who did?" said Mr. Crouch.

"I don't know, but it wasn't one of us," said Mrs. Greengrass with as much hatred and loathing as she could put into her voice.

Someone went into the forest, and a short time later came back with Mr. Crouch's house-elf Winky. Hermione took this small pause in the action to look over at Mrs. Greengrass, she saw Mr. Greengrass rubbing her left arm in a soothing manner. They were whispering to one another, and Hermione wondered if it had anything to do with Voldemort. That was his sign floating in the sky right now, and Hermione would lay a bet on You-know-who doing something to the Greengrass family to try and get one or both of them on his side.

She was ripped out of her thoughts by the sound of Mr. Diggory's voice. "So tell us elf: Where did you get this wand?" He did not sound like the jovial person she had met the day before. No on the contrary he sounded quite aggressive.

"I's is finding on the ground sir." Winky said her voice more than a touch shaky.

"Sir that looks like my wand, and I've been missing it for some time now," Harry said calmly, but Hermione could tell by the look on his face he didn't like what he was saying.

"So you tossed your wand off into the forest after casting the Dark Mark did you?" Mr. Diggory snapped.

"Amos think about who you are talking to," said Mr. Weasley in a strained voice. "Besides he's too young to know the curse anyway."

"Oh, sorry Mr. Potter," he turned back to Winky. "Did you know elf that there is a simple spell to see what spells a wand has cast last?"

"I's not using a wand sir," wailed Winky, "I's a good elf!" She looked to be on the verge of tears at this point.

Mr. Diggory cast a spell, and a smaller image of the Dark Mark floated off the tip of Harry's wand. "So it seems you did cast the Dark Mark elf."

"It wasn't her Amos it was a man's voice that said an incantation before the mark appeared in the sky." Protested Mrs. Greengrass, and all of the others that were present in the clearing backed her up.

"Well then if it wasn't the elf who was it?" asked Mr. Crouch.

"I is still loyal to you master." Winky wailed tears rolling down her face.

"Again I ask if it wasn't the elf who was it?"

"Mr. Crouch if I may?" asked Harry.

"Yes Mr. Potter?" snapped Mr. Crouch.

"I am acting as head of house Potter at the moment Mr. Crouch so Lord would be better." Hermione saw a scowl cross Mr. Crouch's face. "If you no longer want your house-elf I have a friend who will be more than willing to take her on as a servant."

"Now see here Lord Potter-" Crouch was cut off by Harry.

"No Mr. Crouch you listen. I've seen you send Winky up into the top box knowing full well she is acrophobic. I'm certain that you can find another elf in due time, and given the way you've been addressing her I don't think Winky is going to be in your service much longer." Harry said this calmly and with such a calculating precision that she was certain that he and Draco must be distant relative s of some sort, or perhaps Daphne was just rubbing off on him.

Mr. Crouch looked around, and judging by the looks he was getting from some of the people in the crowd he was not on good standing with them at the moment.

"Fine then, who would you have me give her to _Lord _Potter?" Mr. Crouch said rather hotly.

"Hermione Jean Granger," Harry said calmly while point directly at her.

"Fine then Winky you know under the ownership of Ms. Hermione Jean Granger."

It was over so fast Hermione didn't have time to protest. When Mr. Crouch finished what he was saying Hermione felt a wave of magic wash over her body. What perturbed her more than now being part of a broken system that enslaved an entire race was that Harry somehow knew her full name. She just glared at him, and he mouthed to her the words "We'll talk later," and went back to talking to Mr. Crouch and Mr. Greengrass.

"Well Hermione it seems Harry has some explaining to do." Daphne said calmly. "I wonder why he did it though?"

"I wonder that myself," said Mrs. Greengrass. "You know he could have just done a horrible smear campaign on Crouch, but this is so much better."

"You hate Mr. Crouch?" asked Hermione.

"With a passion, I was visiting my parents the day the Death Eaters decided to kill them. The Death Eaters didn't know I was in the house, and when I tried to stop them I took a horrific injury to my wand arm. I saved myself by jumping out the third floor window." Hermione breathed in sharply at this bit of news. "When the Aurors finally showed up Crouch tried to pin the whole thing on me even given all my injuries. I swore that I would tell him everything that happened and give him the names of some of the Death Eaters I could identify under Veritaserum, but even that wasn't enough for the zealous prat. It was only when he found out I was pregnant that he let me testify." She glared at Mr. Crouch at that moment. "I never trusted him again after that."

"Is there anything mistress needs Winky to do?" Winky asked all of a sudden.

"Not right now. You can head back to our tent though." Hermione said this calmly, and watched as Winky Apparated away with a pop! Harry had a lot of explaining to do, but she also wondered how many innocent people Crouch had thrown into Azkaban aside from Sirius. Hermione looked back at Crouch once more as she followed Mrs. Greengrass back to their tent.


	10. Breaking News

If at First

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or affiliated characters, places, and things. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and affiliated companies. Also any information from Pottermore is the property of JK Rowling and Sony. This particular plot is mine however. And to make it seem more cohesive to the original stories I am using some of the lines from them, but they are not my material. They came for the excellent mind of their owner.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, and about Susan's parents I had a small bran fart about them being dead, so since I have regained my senses I am keeping them as it would take too long to take them out.

A/N2: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but my grandfathers just passed away and I will be moving out of the house at some point so I've been holding off on writing. I hope I will be able to get back up and running soon. Cheers!

Chapter Ten: Breaking News

Harry kept looking over his shoulder at Hermione who looked less than pleased that she now owned a house elf. She kept scowling at him though he didn't know if that was due to owning a house elf or what they had learned from Mrs. Greengrass about Barty Crouch Sr. In either event he knew that he was in for an ear splitting argument within the next day or two- scratch that the next few hours. Harry could hear it now.

"How could you do this to me Harry," Hermione's voice wailed in his head. "I can't believe you did this to me. I am now the owner of a slave! This is rich, really rich Harry!"

Yep that something she would say. All though maybe he could convince her to change from freedom of the elves to the improvement of their conditions; after all they did want to serve. It just so happened that they wanted to work for people, for free of course.

"HARRY, ARE YOU LISTENING?!" snapped Hermione.

Harry looked around the tent. Mrs. Greengrass was shaking her head in disapproval about something. Mr. Weasley was smiling as though Harry had just stepped in something rather foul. While Sirius and Kyle were laughing hysterically, and his other friends and girlfriend were giggling and chuckling at his expense.

"Uh, not really." Harry said sheepishly.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER BECAUSE OF YOU I AM NOW PART OF A BROKEN SYSTEM THAT ENSLAVES AN ENTIRE RACE! To be honest I shouldn't be surprised at all about this. You've always done things without thinking them through first, furthermore how am I supposed to explain this to my parents?!" Hermione seethed with anger.

"With tender love, affections, and care?" the smile on Harry's face deceived no one.

"Hermione it's not slavery if they want to serve, and a majority of house-elves want to serve, and remember what my mum said." Daphne said in protest.

Hermione sighed. "I remember, but you have to understand in today's societies such a thing isn't done anymore… well within most civilized societies anyway."

"Hermione they want to serve, and not everyone treats them like shite." Tracey said cuddling up to Susan.

"Language Tracey!" chided the more mannerly of the women in the tent.

"What it fit the situation," Tracey said calmly. "Besides I am no worse than Sirius."

"Nice deflection Spots, but I have no desire to get involved in this argument." Padfoot said through snippets of laughter.

It didn't take long for them all to start feeling tiered, and they were ushered off to bed. As they went their separate ways Harry and Daphne gave each other a kiss goodnight. As Harry drifted off to sleep his thoughts were on the girl in the other tent that held his heart and mind. When Harry awoke the next morning Mr. Weasley and Sirius were ushering the boys out of the tents. All four tents were packed up magically, and they made their way to take an early Portkey back to Stoatshead Hill. Along the way they saw Mr. Roberts talking with a member of the Ministry about what had happened last night. Harry just caught the tail end of the conversations. "So my daughter won't be like those monsters?"

"No Mr. Roberts she won't. Those people in black robes were the worst of our kind, and those not in black robes and mask were just drunk." A woman with an Auror badge explained.

At the look of concern on Harry's face Mr. Weasley told him not to worry that everything would be fine, and that if need be there were place the little girl could stay if her parents didn't want her around. The Portkey area was crowded with people trying to get back home, and they managed to get an old cardboard box back to Stoatshead Hill. The walk back to the Burrow was a quiet one with everyone sticking closer together than normal. Susan and Tracey were holding hands and walking rather briskly at the moment. Just like last time Mrs. Weasley ran up to them engulfing Mr. Weasley in a hug and then jumping over to the twins in a dual hug slamming their heads into each other.

"_Ouch! _Mum- you're strangling us-"

"I shouted at you before you left!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed a little. "It's all I've been thinking about. What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s? Oh Fred… George…"

Harry had to bite back a laugh as Fred and George rubbed the side of their heads as their father dragged their mum back to the Burrow. Once inside Mr. Weasley asked Charlie to get his mum some tea. Hermione brought Mrs. Weasley the tea Charlie made, into which Mr. Weasley insisted on pouring a shot of Ogdins Old Firewhiskey. Bill then handed his father the news paper.

"I knew it," said Mr. Weasley heavily, "_Ministry blunders…culprits not apprehended…lax security…young witch put in mortal danger…national disgrace… _Who wrote this? Ah of course… Rita Skeeter."

"That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" said Percy furiously. "Last week she said that we were wasting our time quibbling about cauldron bottoms when we should be stamping out vampires. As if it wasn't _specifically _statedin paragraph twelve of the Guidelines of the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans-"

"Do us a favor Perce," said Bill yawning, "and shut up."

Harry took this time to chat with Daphne and drowned out the chatter about the rest of article. When Mr. Weasley stood up and went to put on his robes before heading off to the Ministry. Percy followed after finishing his cup of tea. Given the look his friends were giving him he thought it best to finally tell them what was going on.

"I'm going to put my things up want to join me Marauders?" Harry asked.

"Marauders?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Yes that would be me, Hermione, Daphne, Tracey, and Susan." Harry said while waving off Mrs. Weasley's concerns. She gave them a look like she would normally give the twins. "Don't worry Mrs. Weasley we will stay out of trouble, promise." He smiled at her.

"I remember Sirius and your father using that name." she said coolly. "Don't act like Sirius please?"

"I won't ma'am." Harry said as he led them upstairs. He was still holding Daphne's hand as he walked up the stairs. Once inside Ron's old room he turned to them. "So let me guess you want to know what's going on?"

"No Harry, we want to have mind numbing sex." Tracey replied as she closed the door.

"Tracey!" Hermione, Daphne, and Susan said as one.

"What it's not like the idea hasn't crossed his mind." She pointed at Harry. "Besides I think he knows what we want to know any way."

"Well I think I might, but unless you tell me I wouldn't know for certain." Harry could feel a smile tugging on his face.

Daphne grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "Prat, what is going on at Hogwarts and who cast the Dark Mark?"

"Well the first is easy to answer. They are restarting the Triwizard Tournament this year."

"You've got to be kidding!" Daphne, Hermione, and Susan said as one.

"Nope," he smiled over at his girlfriend. "As for the Dark Mark it was Barty Crouch Jr., and no I don't want to turn him in as that might put someone else's life in danger."

"But why not, my aunt could put an end to it quickly." Susan said curtly.

"It would alter all the events in the future so much that there would be no way I could help save as many lives as I would like to save." Harry looked over at Hermione. "My last time through last year Professor Trelawney gave a prediction, she went into a trance and gave a prophecy about Voldemort's return."

"You mean she was telling the truth?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"Yes she was. Most of the time she is just spitting out rubbish, but when she really has a vision you'd know it. She will never remember giving it though so don't bother asking her about them." Harry looked at Daphne. "Even though there will be an age restriction of seventeen for the Tournament I will be entered against my will. And if it all goes the way it did last time Voldemort will return to full power by the end of June."

The room fell silent. Everyone in the room looked at one another. Tracey and Susan wrapped their arms around one another. Daphne hugged Harry tightly as well. Hermione looked lost in thought probably trying to figure ways that Voldemort could return to life. Harry wanted to tell her what he had seen, but he figured she'd want to know more. After a while Tracey looked over at him.

"You know you tell us all these horrifying things, but you never tell us anything that might help us in the important things. Like the test at school." Tracey said curtly.

Everyone snickered about this. Conversation turned to things that were a little bit less terrifying. Daphne and Tracey wanted to prank Draco senseless now that they had mastered their animagus forms. They had been learning from Sirius ways to prank people in there animagus forms. In fact if they weren't pranking Sirius in their normal forms they had been pranking him as animals. The funniest one that they had done was Hermione hiding under a lid that Sirius had been told a cake resided. The only thing that stopped Sirius from cursing her was Harry disarming him the moment he lifted the lid. Of course the revenge prank had left Harry wearing Hermione's clothes and vice versa. Daphne, Susan, and Tracey laughed historically at this.

"I say that now that Ronald is a Malfoy we can add him to the pranking as well." Tracey said with a grin crawling across her face.

"How are we going to do that? He isn't even at Hogwarts anymore." Daphne said.

"We could always mail it to him." Hermione said curtly. "I just can't believe that he moved in with the Malfoys."

"I can." Harry reflected back on the note John had given him last year. 2 May 1998. He didn't understand the importance of that date, but whatever was coming up would define the life the Weasleys would be forced to live because of the choices Ronald has made. "You once told me he was jealous of my fame, and he was. Given that I have a larger growing group of friends this problem must be steroidal at the moment."

"Steroidal?" asked Daphne.

"They are performance enhancing drug taken by corrupt professional athletes in the muggle world. I would say that if professional qudditch players knew about them you would have the same problem muggles do."

"So they are like the strength enhancing potions banned for qudditch play?" Susan asked.

"Yes, but unlike those potions steroids carry long term side effects beyond uncontrollable anger." Hermione said matter of factly.

"Back to Ronald's prank please." Daphne said. "I say we send him a tarantula charmed to grow once the present is opened."

"Isn't that a repeat of Web's gift?" Susan asked.

"Yes, but I have plans for it. We could do it as a gift from a long time 'fan girl'." Daphne said with a smile. "You know what would be funny is that Tori's animagus form is that of a spider."

"That would be funny." Tracey said with a grin. "She might be able to crawl up Ginny's leg at that point."

"Tracey!" Daphne yelled. "Stop trying to make my sister play for the other team!"

"I am doing no such thing." Tracey lightly touched her chest. "I am just telling you what I see. She is smitten with the red-headed tiger."

"I think she just doesn't want to think of her sister romantically involved with anyone at the moment." Harry said with a smile.

Everyone started laughing as Harry tried to doge another pillow.

Insert line

Ron and Draco were laughing hysterically at the _Daily Prophet's_ accounting of the events at the World Cup. Ron in particular was laughing at the way his former father's name wasn't even used. He was hidden within the crowd that asked about the Dark Mark hopping that it had actually been the Dark Lord.

Ron had lost a three galleon bet with Draco about that too. Just thinking about the Weasley senior made brought to mind Potter. Just the mere thought of the arrogant prat was enough to make his blood boil.

"Thinking about Potter again Ronald?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, and I can't wait to see the look on his face when I show up to school in a couple of weeks." Ron said coldly.

"Who says we have to wait till we get to the castle. I always try to get under his skin on the train." Draco started smiling at this point. "We could also hit on Greengrass while we're at it."

"I've always wondered why you did that."

"I wanted to turn him into an ally originally like Crabbe and Goyle, but you prevented that. Now I do it to annoy him, and hopefully he does something stupid enough to get himself expelled like he did in second year."

"If it had been up to Professor Snape he would have been you know." Ronald said as he took a drink of some elderberry wine.

"I know Professor Snape said as much, but McGonagall is his head of house so he wasn't able to." Draco snarled. "That bint has been a thorn in my side since I started school. I still can't believe she expects me to do my own work!"

"That's the one thing I will miss, getting that mudblood Granger to do my homework." Ron said laughing. "What do you think Ms. Beaver-teeth will say when she sees me?"

Draco started to talk like Granger. "Ronald do you honestly think your better than me now? Just wait until I tell your mum what you've done."

"Yep that sounds like her alright." Ron said between chuckles. "Wonder if she'll ever resort to magic to fix that little problem of hers."

"I doubt it. Mud-bloods are set in their barbaric ways, and will never change." Draco took his last sip of elderberry wine. "Come on we have to be up early tomorrow for a meeting with Dad about you getting your mark when the Dark Lord returns."

"That's right. I regret not being able to enjoy the fun they were having last night." Ron said he took on last drink of wine.

"Don't worry the moment you take your mark you will be a part of it all."

Insert line

The Marauders ran into Kings Cross shielding their animals as best they could. Hedwig looked more annoyed than Crookshanks. Mr. Weasley like last time went in earlier to work to help 'Mad-Eye Moody' stay out of Azkaban. As they made their way to the train Harry wondered if they would be seeing Ronald today. They got on the train towards the back, and as the got on Harry noticed a strawberry blond climbing on the train. He could tell it was a guy, but he was too far away to tell if it was Ronald. The group found an empty compartment, and they started putting up their trunks. Fred and George went off to join their friends. Tori and Ginny walked to do their own thing. Harry smiled as he watched Tori inch her way closer to Ginny. He walked back to say goodbye to the Weasleys and Sirius. The twins tried to get their mum to tell them what was going on, and when Sirius tried to tell them Mrs. Weasley just stomped on his foot.

"Alright Harry what is going on this year?" Fred asked.

"Well they are canceling quidditch." Harry said.

"WHAT?!" screamed Fred and George.

"They are going to be doing the Triwizard Tournament again, and that will be held at Hogwarts so…"

"We can enter?" asked George.

"I don't know. See you guys." Harry started walking back to the Marauder compartment. Lucky was staring at him.

"What took you so long?" asked Daphne.

"The twins wanted to know what was going on this year. I don't want to change everything." Harry sat down next to Lucky and put his arm around her. "So have we decided on our first official prank?"

"Well we already declared it to be Draco." Tracey looked dejected.

"I'm not saying we change anything," Harry looked at his friends, "but I think we could add someone to them."

"Ron." Everyone said together.

"Yes."


End file.
